Good morning, friends and welcome to the final morning of 2025. We are closing out the year with another busy issue, led by news that Egypt is looking to set up a pan-African gold bank and an internationally accredited refinery in a bid to keep African gold in Africa, as well as the state coffers welcoming USD 3.5 bn from Qatar as part of the Alam El Roum development agreement.

** A QUICK PROGRAMMING NOTE- EnterpriseAM Egypt will be taking a break from your inboxes tomorrow for New Year’s Day, but we will be back bright and early to kick off the first workday of 2026. Happy New Year, and see you soon.

Watch this space

PRIVATIZATION — The state is targeting USD 2-3 bn in total investment from the redevelopment of the Ministries Square, a senior government official tells EnterpriseAM. The Madbouly government is gearing up to launch the tender for the area, with the conditions booklet to be released during the first quarter of 2026. The former Finance Ministry HQ is now part of the plan, bringing the total number of buildings up for redevelopment to 12, the official told us.

Not for sale: In line with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt’s mandate to retain ownership of assets, the buildings will not be sold outright, instead, they will be offered under public-private partnership models or long-term usufruct agreements. Investors are being tapped to convert the buildings into a mix of corporate HQs, five-star hotels, and serviced apartments to capitalize on rising demand for tourism capacity in the capital, the source tells us.

Investors are already lining up: “We already have offers from foreign and Arab investors to participate in this massive project,” the source told us, noting that these bids are being studied concurrently with the final review of the tender procedures.

LOGISTICS — Is a new Libyan dry port the anchor of an Egyptian industrial zone? Cairo and Tripoli are in talks to turn the newly-established Al Jawf Dry Port southwest Libya into the cornerstone of a joint freezone — one designed to unlock West African markets for Egyptian exporters, a government source tells EnterpriseAM.

Why does it matter? It’s a play for industrial dominance. The move isn’t just about transporting goods, but establishing a manufacturing foothold to rival global players. The proposed freezone is Egypt’s strategic countermove to competitors like China, which has already established a massive ceramics factory in Libya’s Misrata to export to Europe, Mohamed El Beheiry, head of the Arab Cooperation Committee at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, tells EnterpriseAM.

BACKGROUND- Talks on the project initially launched in May 2024 to create a launchpad for Egyptian exports to Libya, as well as wider intra-African trade, targeting landlocked Chad and Niger.

Not the first Egypt-backed project in the Libya-Niger-Chad corridor: The Madbouly government is planning to invest EGP 6 bn in the first phase of a new road project connecting Egypt to Libya and Chad. The planned dry port will be located in proximity to the new road — also known as the East Oweinat-Kufra road — which will stretch 1.7k km across the three countries.

INFRASTRUCTURE — Egypt positions its national champions to lead Sudan’s reconstruction: Egyptian firms will be given priority status for all rebuilding projects in war-torn Sudan, following an agreement reached between the two sides at the Joint Egyptian-Sudanese Trade and Industry Committee on Monday, according to a statement. The agreement signals a shift from humanitarian aid to a strategic plan and also covers technical support to help Sudanese factories damaged by the war restart operations.

This isn’t just about winning contracts: Starting January, Egypt will begin training Sudanese customs personnel and implementing a system for the mutual acceptance of conformity certificates. By aligning Sudan’s technical specifications with our own, Cairo is effectively building a regulatory moat that makes it faster and cheaper for Egyptian firms to export goods and services to Sudan in comparison to regional competitors like Turkey or China.

What to watch for: Keep an eye out for the January conference of land-border crossing managers. The focus will be on raising the necessary funds to set up logistics zones between the two countries — a move that would turn the land bridge to Sudan into a viable, high-speed trade corridor for Egyptian manufacturers.

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Data point

80% — that’s the amount of transactions in Egypt that were done in hardcash in 2025. This makes us one of the most cash-dependent nations in the region, behind only Iraq with 85% and Lebanon with 90%, according to data from Forex. Despite financial inclusion hitting 76.3% at the end of the last fiscal year, it seems that cash is still king.

PSA-

WEATHER- It’s another cool day in Cairo, with a high of 20°C and a low of 11°C, according to our favorite weather app.

The big story abroad

Few stories are making headlines on the last morning of 2025:

#1- A Saudi-led coalition hit Yemen’s Mukalla port with a limited airstrike, targeting what Riyadh described as weapons and heavy-vehicle shipments aboard two vessels arriving from the UAE. “The ships’ crew had disabled tracking devices aboard the vessels, and unloaded a large amount of weapons and combat vehicles in support of the Southern Transitional Council’s (STC) forces,” a statement published by state news agency SPA said. Saudi Arabia made the move to combat the UAE-backed STC’s military advances on its southern border with Yemen, which it deemed a “threat to the national security of the Kingdom.”

#2- Warner Bros Discovery is reportedly leaning toward rejecting Paramount Skydance’s amended USD 108.4 bn hostile takeover bid, despite a personal financing guarantee from Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Reuters reports citing a person familiar with the matter. The board still favors a lower-value USD 82.7 bn merger with Netflix, viewing it as a path of least resistance with fewer regulatory hurdles.

#3- Fed minutes reveal a central bank at a crossroads: Minutes (pdf) from the Fed’s December meeting showed a committee deeply fractured over the path for 2026, especially when it comes to the timing and size of the cuts to come. While officials voted 9-3 to lower rates to 3.5%-3.75%, the record shows some members only supported the cut by a “fine balance,” while others argued for a hold.

*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: EnterpriseAM’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, and urban development, as well as social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: We look at what 2025 meant for the local real estate sector, from strategy pivots to fresh mega projects in the making.

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