Good morning, friends, and welcome to the last workday of Ramadan. While it remains unclear when Eid El Fitr begins — we’ll be waiting for the official announcement tomorrow night — we are all but ready for the festivities to kick off and the kahk to start flowing.

In today’s issue: The Madbouly government has big privatization plans for post-Eid, involving the exit or IPO of at least 20 state-owned enterprises. And in our latest efforts to hedge FX risk, the state wants to link development loans to the EGP.

**A QUICK PROGRAMMING NOTE- EnterpriseAM Egypt will join the rest of the country in taking a break from your inboxes starting tomorrow in celebration of Eid El Fitr. We’ll be back in your inboxes at the usual hour on Tuesday with everything you may have missed over the long weekend.

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WISH THIS MORNING’S ISSUE was a podcast? We’ve got you. Tap or click here to listen to Morning Drive, a 10-minute version of today’s issue crafted for you to enjoy with your morning coffee, while getting the kids ready for school, or while stomping around the house wondering where the [redacted] you left your [redacted] reading glasses.***

Watch this space

ENERGY — Renergy Group Partners are talking about establishing a USD 1 bn hyperscale green data center in Sinai’s El Tor, which would be part of and powered by the group’s proposed USD17bn hybrid renewables project, according to an Investment Ministry statement. The data center would start at 10k sqm with plans to expand to 500k sqm, using seawater for cooling and positioning Egypt as a hub for green data services for global tech giants, the company claims.

TELECOMS — The National Telecom Regulatory Authority debunked the social media chatter claiming a 30% spike is hitting our telecom bills. However, a hike isn’t entirely off the table, with the NTRA admitting it is studying potential price adjustments, following lobbying from telecom providers who say they are facing a significant margin squeeze on the back of fuel price hikes.

On the diplomatic front

Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty wrapped up his Gulf tour yesterday with his fifth and final stop in Riyadh, where he once again “reiterated Egypt’s full solidarity” with the host nation in a meeting with his Saudi counterpart, according to a ministry statement. The minister also pointed to the stability and security of GCC nations as a “fundamental pillar and an integral part of Egyptian national security” in a meeting with GCC Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi, according to a separate statement from the ministry.

** DID YOU KNOW that we cover Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the MENA-IndiaCorridor?

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PSA

WEATHER- It’s starting to feel like summer in Cairo today, with a high of 27°C and a low of 16°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s a cloudy day in Alexandria, with a high of 24°C and a low of 13°C.

And over the long weekend, expect to see temperatures jump from the low to mid 20s in the capital and hover around the 20°C mark for our friends on the Mediterranean.

The big story abroad

Major escalations have kept the regional war on the front pages, chief among them was the killing of Iran’s top security official Ali Larijani by an Israeli airstrike. Larijani — a longtime architect of Iran’s security policy — is the most senior regime member killed in the war after former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, to whom he was a close advisor.

Israel also killed General Gholam Reza Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s all-volunteer Basij — a paramilitary volunteer militia.

Meanwhile, a top US counterterrorism official resigned over Washington’s war on the Islamic Republic. Joe Kent — the director of the US National Counterterrorism Center — stepped down yesterday, claiming that “Iran posed no imminent threat to [the US]” and attributed the operation to “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

The war has sent US gas prices beyond USD 3.75 a gallon for the first time since October 2023, Reuters reports, citing data by fuel price tracker GasBuddy.

PLUS- It’s interest rate day: The Fed will make its interest rate announcement later today — and tomorrow is equally big a day, with the ECB, Bank of England, and Bank of Japan doing the same.

The Fed is widely expected to keep rates unchanged as it takes stock of the economic fallout from the war. Policy decisions moving forward might prove tricky. The war’s pressure on oil prices threatens to spike inflation, while the US labor market is also looking weak, so the case for looser vs. tighter economic policy might be much less clear than before.

*** 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 into why the global business press is forecasting double-digit real estate price falls in Dubai as a result of the war, while industry insiders in Egypt see prices going the other way.

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