Annual urban inflation speeds up to 14.9% in July

Good afternoon, ladies and gents, and welcome back. If you’ve ever spent months applying for a Schengen visa only to get rejected, today’s story will feel personal. An Egyptian startup is taking on the process — the document piles, the disappearing appointment slots, and the brokers — with an AI agent that handles it end to end. Also in today’s issue: the House of the Dragon season three finale aired this morning, and after a mid-season that tested everyone’s patience, we have thoughts.

But first, the news…

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

📍 Egypt’s annual urban inflation sped up to 14.9% in July, its first acceleration since March, according to Capmas data — but it came in below the 15.6% a Reuters poll of analysts had penciled in. That snaps three straight months of cooling — 14.9% in April, 14.6% in May and 14.3% in June — and puts the rate right back where it stood in the spring.

The jump is almost entirely a base effect, not fresh price pressure. Urban prices were flat on the month — 0.0% against June — as food and beverages fell 0.6% m-o-m and a 2.4% drop in recreation and culture offset rises elsewhere. What lifted the annual figure was the weak July 2025 reading dropping out of the 12-month comparison, not households paying more in July.

^^ We’ll have more on this story in tomorrow’s edition of EnterpriseAM.

Destination Sahel Issue III drops this week, and we’re diving into how the North Coast is adapting to a changing market.

Developers are recalibrating as buyer behavior shifts, luxury retail is carving out a bigger piece of Sahel’s economy, and the wellness and sports scene has become a summer destination on its own.

In this issue, we get into what’s actually changing on the ground, from how developers are adjusting their pitch to where to shop and how to stay active this season.

Coming straight to your inbox on Wednesday, 12 August.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

🌐 It’s a relatively calm afternoon on the global newsfronts, with no single story getting top billing and no notable updates on the US-Iran conflict. However, as negotiations between the two warring nations stall, shipping transit has already begun to steer away from the Strait of Hormuz. Chinese container shipping company Sea Legend is launching the first regular container service through the Arctic this week, connecting Ningbo in China with Felixstowe in the UK along Russia’s northern coast. Called the “Ice Silk Road,” the weekly route could cut the journey from around 40 days to roughly half that, depending on Arctic conditions.

The move follows a record 23 transits through the Northern Sea Route last summer, up from 15 in 2024. With summer ice now clearing far enough south for vessels to pass without icebreakers, shipping companies are increasingly eyeing the route as an alternative to vulnerable chokepoints such as the Bab Al Mandab and the Strait of Hormuz.

^^Read more on: Financial Times.

MEANWHILE- A Ukrainian drone attack on industrial and civilian targets in Russia’s Nizhnekamsk earlier today reportedly killed at least 13 people and injured dozens more, marking one of the country’s deadliest civilian incidents in months. Ukraine’s military said it targeted Tatneft’s Taneco oil refinery in Tatarstan, around 800 km east of Moscow. The attack reportedly continued for several hours overnight and into Monday morning.

^^Read more on: CNN, BBC, The Guardian, and Reuters.

IN THE BUSINESS PRESS- JPMorgan has raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 8k from 7.8k, citing stronger corporate earnings and growing confidence that Big Tech’s AI investments will translate into faster revenue growth. The S&P 500 has already returned to record highs after corporate earnings jumped 32%, while investors continue to scrutinize Big Tech’s hefty AI spending and its impact on cashflows. JPMorgan expects that spending spree to continue, with AI investments projected to make up more than half of the S&P 500’s estimated USD 1.5 tn in total capital expenditure this year.

^^Read more on: Reuters and Bloomberg.

ALSO- More than 1 mn people have been evacuated across eastern China, including Shanghai, as Typhoon Dolphin made landfall, bringing torrential rain and widespread transport disruptions. Nearly 1k flights were canceled in Shanghai on Monday alone, while authorities continue to warn of severe flooding and landslides through Wednesday. Although Dolphin has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, it’s the strongest storm to hit China this year.

^^Read more on: BBC, Reuters, and The Guardian.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• The Awqaf Authority is putting a 41k-sqm plot at the former Rawd El Farag market site in Cairo up for development through a private-sector partnership. The prospect is already open to investors, with the authority accepting proposals from both local and foreign developers. Hotels, office buildings, and towers are among the potential uses identified for the plot by the authority;
• Qatari Diar launched the first phase of its USD 29.7 bn Alam El Roum development, with up to EGP 220 bn going into the 4 mn sqm phase. This phase will span around 1.4 mn sqm of built-up area, including four hotels with more than 1k rooms, a marina with 50 yacht berths, around 195k sqm of artificial swimmable lagoons, and a 2-km beach and waterfront promenade. Initial deliveries are targeted for 2030;
• Fund managers can soon launch hedge funds in Egypt for the first time, either by building ones from scratch or converting existing mutual funds. The decision seeks to deepen local capital markets by introducing absolute-return strategies to the Egyptian Exchange. With that, the FRA just created a whole lot of demand for our nascent derivatives market;
• The Oil Ministry is lining up EGP 257.7 bn in investment to expand extraction activities over the coming period, including EGP 103 bn earmarked specifically for natural gas. The spending will focus on West Nile and the southern Western Desert, alongside new exploration work, as the ministry looks to lift domestic output after years of declining production and reduce reliance on imports.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Be warned, folks: the heat is cranking up tomorrow, with the mercury set to peak at a sweltering 41°C before dropping to a warm 28°C at night. Up on the North Coast, expect more humid conditions and an exceptionally hot high of 34°C — dehydration and heatstroke warnings are in effect — before easing to 25°C at night, according to our favorite weather app.