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Tuesday, 11 Aug 2026

What We’re Tracking Today
Economy
Debt Watch
Development Watch
Earnings Watch
A Message From Auc Onsi Sawiris School Of Business Executive Education
Moves
Also On Our Radar
Planet Finance
Going Green
Calendar

Urban inflation rose to 14.9% in July, its first uptick since March

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Today at a glance

1

Economy

Urban inflation rose to 14.9% in July, its first uptick since March.
2

DEBT WATCH

Gov’t to launch tax-backed sukuk to tap corporate money reserves.
3

DEVELOPMENT WATCH

Gov’t prepares to double Universal Health Ins. reach before Phase 1 results are in.
4

EARNINGS WATCH

Valu’s net income rose 43% in 1H 2026, but quarterly growth slowed sharply in 2Q.
5

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

NTRA refers telecom operators to public prosecutor.
6

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd reroute Gemini service to Suez.
7

Also on our Radar

FRA slashes review fees by 50% for all sustainable debt to spur stalled market.
8

PLANET FINANCE

MENA M&A value drops 21% to USD 46.7 bn in 1H despite 2Q rebound — EY.
9

Going Green

We have a new renewables target of 45% by 2028, but no demand forecast to verify it.

Tuesday, 11 Aug 2026

What We’re Tracking Today
Economy
Debt Watch
Development Watch
Earnings Watch
A Message From Auc Onsi Sawiris School Of Business Executive Education
Moves
Also On Our Radar
Planet Finance
Going Green
Calendar
1

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

Telecom operators referred to public prosecutor amid SIM card fraud

Good morning, friends. Today’s issue is about the gap between what looks good on paper and what actually happens on the ground.

First up, July’s annual urban inflation ticked back up to 14.9%, breaking a neat three-month disinflation streak. But no need to worry, this pickup is almost entirely a base effect because monthly prices actually remained completely flat, giving the Central Bank plenty of breathing room ahead of its rate call next week.

Meanwhile, the government is getting creative by prepping its first-ever tax-backed sukuk, luring cash-rich corporates park their excess liquidity with the state today in exchange for a solid yield and future tax offsets.

We also take a deep dive into our Universal Health Ins. system, tracking the state’s preparations to double the reach of the program in its Phase 2 before Phase 1 pilot results are even finalized.

***

ARE YOU MORE OF A LISTENER? Morning Drive is a 10-minute summary of today’s issue crafted for you to enjoy with your morning coffee, while getting the kids ready for school, or driving through the morning rush. And if you like it, tell your friends to tell their friends. They can find us on Apple, Spotify, or wherever they get their podcasts.

***

The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum is back — and we’re devoting the full day to the singular set of questions on everyone’s mind: What does AI actually mean for your company, your people, your economy, your own job — and your kids’ future?

Every session on stage answers one question: “So, what do I actually do about it?”

Join us on 5 October in Cairo. Seats are limited and attendance is by invitation only.

Request your invitation here.

Telecom operators face scrutiny over SIM card fraud

The National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has referred Egypt’s four telecom operators to the public prosecutor, citing recent violations involving SIM lines registered in users’ names without their knowledge, the authority said in a statement.

Anti-fraud measures: The NTRA ordered a suspension on the sale and activation of new corporate lines across both private-sector and government entities, while requiring operators to notify existing corporate line holders via SMS to re-register in person or face permanent line cancellation. Operators are mandated to fast-track the integration of biometric verification features, enabling customers to more securely verify their identities.

Some context: A story made the rounds last week of several individuals discovering unauthorized lines registered in their names, sparked by a student being linked to a drug trafficking case via an unknown line registered to him. This coincided with an outage of the authority’s My NTRA app, which lets users check all lines registered in their name.

Suez comeback continues

Shipping giants Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd rerouted their joint AE19 Gemini service from around the Cape of Good Hope to the Suez Canal, according to a press release. The companies called the move a “step towards a gradual return to the trans-Suez corridor,” following assessments of the security situation in the Red Sea. The service connects Asia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt (via Port Said), and other Mediterranean ports, before doubling back to Singapore.

The broader comeback: The decision comes after Maersk rerouted three services through the Suez Canal last month — most recently resuming the WAF6, MECL, and the jointly operated A15 loop.

Self-checkout

The EGX’s conversion into a joint-stock company is back on the table after Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly discussed the plan yesterday with Investment Minister Mohamed Farid, FRA Chairman Islam Azzam, and EGX Chairman Omar Radwan, according to a cabinet statement. The discussions included trading infrastructure upgrades, securities lending and derivatives mechanics, and a push to get private ins. funds to put more of their mandated equity allocations into EGX-listed stocks and funds.

Radwan told us just that last week. “Most exchanges internationally operate as corporate entities — it is the global norm,” he said, arguing that a privately managed structure would make it easier for foreign stakeholders to engage with the EGX the way they’re used to elsewhere and give the exchange more agility in governance and tech.

On whether EGX would list its own shares: “There are details to work through, but the decision will be made carefully, and we will do whatever serves the market best.”

Data point

79% — that’s where Egypt’s financial inclusion rate stood at the end of June, up from 77.6% at end-2025 and bringing the country even closer to its 80% target by FY 2029-30, according to the latest data from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). Some 56.4 mn of the country’s 71.4 mn citizens aged 15 and above now hold active accounts. Meanwhile, financial inclusion among women climbed to 72.5%, up from 19.1% in 2016.

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 tomorrow, 12 August.

Happening today

The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) opens the tender for eight new billet-production licenses today, adding a combined 2.8 mn tons of annual capacity, the authority said in a statement. Four licenses cover 500k tons each, and four cover another 200k tons each, with tender documents available through 20 August and bids due by 9 September. The launch sets dates and production tiers for the eight-license auction we flagged last week, when the IDA was still finalizing the terms.

PSA-

WEATHER- We are back to the 40s in Cairo today, recording a high of 40°C and a low of 27°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s much cooler in Alexandria, with a high of 33°C and a low of 25°C.

The big story abroad

In the latest twist in the regional war, US President Donald Trump has issued a counter-demand for financial compensation from Iran, turning Tehran’s own claim for war damages back on the Islamic Republic. Iranian officials had indicated that reparations and an end to sanctions, largely in line with the terms of the interim truce signed in June, are prerequisites for opening the Strait of Hormuz.

Wall Street’s next big AI wager: Nvidia is looking to mobilize USD 500 bn for AI infrastructure after signing MoUs with six major financial firms, including BlackRock, Blackstone, Apollo, Goldman Sachs, and KKR. The chipmaker aims to launch first-of-their-kind compute financing platforms, accelerating AI infrastructure expansion across labs, enterprises, and cloud providers.

Meta has unveiled Muse Glimmer, an open-weights version of its most powerful AI model, Muse Spark, making its underlying calculations accessible to the public. Muse Spark, however, will remain closed and accessible only to paying users. The announcement was accompanied by an essay by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who championed his vision for a transparent tech landscape vis-a-vis AI innovation.

Speaking of Meta: A US appeals court has allowed thousands of lawsuits against Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snapchat to move forward over claims that the companies designed their platforms to be addictive to young users. The cases were brought forward by states, municipalities, school districts and individuals claiming that the social media platforms contribute to depression, anxiety, body-image issues among young demographics.

Also in the AI world: OpenAI wrapped up a USD 7 bn share buyback sale, allowing current and former employees to sell stock ahead of an anticipated Wall Street listing. The startup opted to buy back its shares from its employees rather than tapping outside investors, which values the company at USD 852 bn.

At least 111 people were killed in Colombia yesterday after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck, damaging nearly 1.6k homes and collapsing 60 buildings. It was Colombia's most powerful earthquake this century, its geological service said.

*** It’s Going Green day — your weekly briefing of all things green in Egypt: EnterpriseAM’s green economy vertical focuses each Tuesday on the business of renewable energy and sustainable practices in Egypt, everything from solar and wind energy through to water, waste management, sustainable building practices and how you can make your business greener, whatever the sector.

In today’s issue: We test Egypt’s new 45% renewable energy target against what’s actually been built, funded, and disclosed.

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2

Economy

Urban inflation rose to 14.9% in July, its first pickup since March

Egypt’s annual urban inflation sped up to 14.9% in July, its first acceleration since March — but it came in below the 15.6% that a Reuters poll of analysts had predicted, according to Capmas data. The pickup reverses 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.

Utilities and services are still carrying the annual rate. Housing, water, electricity, gas, and fuel were up 41.2% y-o-y — the steepest of any category — with transport up 24.5%, education up 18.7%, and household furnishings up 17.9%. Meanwhile, food inflation has cooled to 8.0% y-o-y, under a fifth of the housing figure. On the month, furnishings (+1.6%) and housing (+0.7%) led the few gainers.

The bigger picture is a stall. Urban inflation averaged 14.1% across 2025 and is running near that now — a plateau far below the 38% peak of 2023, but one it has been stuck on for months.

Why it matters for the 20 August MPC meeting: A flat monthly rate and a softer-than-feared headline give the Central Bank of Egypt room to hold rates again at next week’s meeting — one of four meetings left this year, on 20 August, 24 September, 29 October, and 17 December. The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut by 100 bps in February, to 19% on the deposit rate and 20% on lending, then held at each of the three meetings since.

What’s next: A roughly 12% electricity-price increase introduced in late July has yet to filter through and will land in August’s reading, just after the rate call — adding fresh pressure on top of a housing-and-utilities category already running above 40%, and an argument against resuming cuts in the near term.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

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3

DEBT WATCH

Gov’t to launch tax-backed sukuk to tap corporate cash reserves

The Madbouly government is preparing to issue tax-backed sukuk for the first time, allowing corporate taxpayers to purchase sovereign-yield-bearing certificates today and surrender them to clear future tax liabilities, after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi approved the proposal, according to an Ittihadiya statement. The government expects the tax-exempt instrument to lower its borrowing costs and debt-service bill, offering a more stable alternative to conventional treasury bills.

How it works: Each issuance will carry a fixed, tax-exempt yield for its full term, with the Finance Ministry setting the rate before each issuance based on the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) credit and discount rate and prevailing market conditions, a senior government official tells EnterpriseAM. That means later issuances could carry different rates as market conditions change, helping keep the instrument attractive enough for taxpayers to park liquidity in the sukuk rather than deploy it elsewhere. Companies “will compare it as an alternative to utilizing their funds in Treasury bills,” Al Ahly Pharos Head of Research Hany Genena tells us, describing the sukuk as another option for the “optimal allocation of their excess cash.”

What are the benefits for taxpayers? “The new sukuk will be treated as an advance payment toward tax liabilities,” the official explains, adding that “this spares taxpayers from future accumulated delay penalties, while offering a tax-exempt yield that exceeds the central bank’s corridor discount rate.”

No new law needed: The mechanism has been sitting unused in the Income Tax Law since 2005, according to the official, giving the Finance Minister the authority to issue the certificates and set their tax-free return. This would be the first time the provision is activated.

Why it matters: The government is looking for cheaper ways to bridge a large funding gap. The Finance Ministry plans around EGP 3.4 tn in new sovereign debt against an EGP 4 tn financing gap this FY, while interest payments currently eat up 70-80% of tax revenues. Genena sees the sukuk as an alternative to conventional T-bill and bond issuance that could lower the ministry’s funding cost — but says diversification alone has value: “It’s going to be just another way to secure funding,” he says, “even if at equal cost.”

Why corporate Egypt? “Corporate Egypt has been piling cash” over the past two years, Genena says, while the CBE has “withdrawn from the funding market” and the banking system has become “very overstretched.” Foreign investors are still participating in the T-bill market, but their contribution has become “on and off” amid regional volatility, he adds. That leaves cash-rich corporates as a “more stable, more secure” pool of funding for the state.

DATA POINT- The Finance Ministry issued EGP 1.4 tn in various debt instruments during the first six weeks of the current FY, up roughly by EGP 200 bn compared to the same period a year earlier, according to recent Finance Ministry data seen by EnterpriseAM.

More in the toolbox: The ministry is studying other future receivables that could be brought forward through similar structures, the official tells us.

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4

DEVELOPMENT WATCH

Egypt prepares to double Universal Health Ins. reach before Phase 1 results are in

The government is preparing to more than double the reach of its mandatory Universal Health Ins. (UHI) system — adding some 12-13 mn people across five governorates — before the first independent evaluation of whether the system works has been published. Bankrolling that expansion is a fresh EUR 150 mn loan from the French Development Agency (AFD), signed in June and now moving through constitutional ratification.

The loan’s disbursement is tied to governance and financial-management reforms rather than to enrollment numbers or health outcomes. That distinction runs through Egypt’s UHI story so far: a seven-year buildout across three agencies, with World Bank and AFD financing layered on the state budget, and no published independent evaluation of the system’s results to date. What follows is what the new money funds, what the system reports on the money already spent, and how far the rollout has reached.

What the loan funds — and doesn’t

The EUR 150 mn facility is AFD’s third policy-based UHI loan since 2019, on top of two earlier loans worth a combined EUR 210 mn and EUR 2 mn in technical-cooperation grants. It was signed in June 2026 as part of a broader c. EUR 459 mn France/EU package we covered at the time and will be disbursed in three EUR 50 mn tranches between 2026 and 2028 — each released against specific policy actions rather than paid out as a lump sum.

AFD was explicit that this is budget support, not a line-item allocation: it funds the deployment of public policy, as the World Bank’s own UHI financing does, rather than a defined list of hospitals, salaries, or subsidized premiums. The disbursement triggers sit under four objectives — strengthening governance across the system’s three agencies (the UHI Authority, which collects contributions and pays providers; the Egypt Healthcare Authority (EHA), which runs the hospitals and clinics; and the General Authority for Healthcare Accreditation and Regulation (Gahar), which certifies which facilities can treat UHI patients), improving long-term financial sustainability, building institutional and management capacity with a stated focus on gender-equitable access, and advancing Egypt’s Green Health Ins. Strategy.

The specific conditions show what AFD is — and isn’t — funding. They include progress on informal-sector coverage, a working user-satisfaction feedback mechanism, and a model for bringing private providers and ins.rers into the system. None is tied to a hard enrollment number or a spending-outcome target.

ALSO- An accompanying EUR 2 mn technical-cooperation package, still being finalized, splits into EUR 1 mn managed directly by the Finance Ministry for capacity building, actuarial studies, and digitalization work at UHIA, and EUR 1 mn in kind from Expertise France for UHIA, EHA, and Gahar. A separate EUR 30 mn EU grant, delegated to AFD over four years, will fund the rehabilitation of primary healthcare centers in Kafr El Sheikh and Minya, targeting a 30% improvement in energy performance alongside climate-resilience upgrades.

What’s measured, and what isn’t

What UHIA reports publicly is activity, not outcomes: enrollment counts and volumes of medical visits and services delivered. Ayman Sabea, a right-to-health researcher who consulted on the Universal Health Ins. Law (No. 2 of 2018) as part of a civil-society working group, says the more telling indicators are the share of patients still paying out of pocket, patient satisfaction, and the referral rate from primary-care family-health units to specialists — a proxy, he says, for whether the system’s gatekeeping model is resolving cases at the first point of contact.

The study that could settle it isn’t out yet. AFD said a first-of-its-kind impact evaluation of Phase 1 is being designed under the World Health Organization (WHO) leadership, with the World Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and AFD as partners. It will be tracked under the current loan as it feeds into Phase 2. Until it is published, there is no independent read on Phase 1’s actual health or financial outcomes.

Where the rollout stands

The system went live as a pilot in Port Said in 2019 and rolled out to five more governorates — Ismailia, Luxor, Suez, South Sinai, and Aswan — to make up Phase 1's six-governorate cohort. AFD puts coverage at close to 6 mn Egyptians since 2019, though a cabinet statement gave 5.2 mn as of November 2025, with an 81.7% average registration rate across the six governorates and the private sector supplying 31% of the contracted provider network.

Phase 2 is a step up in scale. Its five governorates — Minya, Matrouh, Damietta, Kafr El Sheikh, and North Sinai — carry a Cabinet target of c. 12-13 mn additional beneficiaries against Phase 1’s 5.2 mn, backed by 69 hospitals and 669 primary-care units, with private providers expected to supply 30-40% of hospital beds.

What UHI is, who’s covered

BACKGROUND- Egypt’s 2018 Universal Health Ins. Law split a system that used to finance, deliver, and regulate healthcare all inside the Health Ministry into three separate bodies: UHIA, EHA, and Gahar. Sabea describes the split as a direct response to a system that used to fund, deliver, and regulate itself — a setup he called structurally unable to hold itself accountable.

Coverage is mandatory with no opt-out, and it’s organized by household rather than by individual — the idea being that a family, not a person, is the unit the system insures, Sabea says. Funding comes through three channels, depending on employment status: automatic payroll deductions for the formal sector, self-paid contributions for informal workers, and a state subsidy for anyone below an official “unable to pay” threshold. The World Bank appraisal document — which put up its own USD 400 mn loan alongside AFD’s financing — lays out the same three-agency structure and funding mix in more technical detail, down to earmarked taxes on toll roads, car licensing, and tobacco.

The Bank’s document lists six conditions that qualify a household for state-covered premiums, among them receiving Takaful and Karama cashtransfer benefits, having exhausted unemployment benefits, having no income and no family support while living in a care facility, being disabled with no income source, or living in an area hit by a natural or man-made disaster. It puts this subsidized group at around 30% of the population. The law also reaches beyond citizens living in Egypt: Egyptians abroad can opt in voluntarily, and foreign residents — including refugees — are eligible, subject to reciprocal agreements between Egypt and their home countries.

Until each governorate is brought in, a separate program covers the gap. The Bank’s original schedule ran six phases over 15 years, ending with Cairo, Giza, and Qalioubiya. In the meantime, the state-funded Program of Treatment on the Expense of the State (PTES) covers catastrophic out-of-pocket costs for the poorest households in governorates not yet in the system — which is the mechanism, not UHI itself, meant to protect people in Minya or North Sinai today, before Phase 2 formally brings them in.

The bottlenecks Phase 1 exposed

Private-sector accreditation was Phase 1’s biggest obstacle, in Sabea’s account. Providers need a stack of approvals — including civil-defense permits — before Gahar will certify them, a process slow enough that EHA ended up building new public facilities rather than routing patients through existing private capacity. A second, unresolved problem is collecting recurring contributions from informal-sector workers, who have no payroll deductions and have to pay on their own — a group Sabea said the system is still working out how to reach.

No date yet for Phase 2

Neither AFD nor Sabea would point to a firm date for when residents of the five Phase 2 governorates would start enrolling. AFD said its loan sets no direct timeline for coverage in specific governorates — it is built to support national institutional reform, not to pace the rollout, which it said remains the government’s job.

WATCH THIS SPACE- The WHO-led Phase 1 impact evaluation will be the first independent assessment of the system’s results — and AFD says it will feed into Phase 2 even as that expansion gets underway.

(Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

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5

EARNINGS WATCH

Valu’s net income rose 43% in 1H 2026, but quarterly growth slowed sharply in 2Q

Consumer-finance platform Valu grew net income 43% y-o-y in 1H 2026 to EGP 486 mn, according to its latest earnings release (pdf). Gross revenues rose 29% to EGP 3.2 bn, and gross merchandise value (GMV) climbed 38% to EGP 14.6 bn.

Growth cooled markedly in the second quarter. Valu generated roughly EGP 265 mn in 2Q, according to EnterpriseAM calculations from the 1H results and its previously reported 1Q figures, up c. 23% y-o-y, a sharp step down from 1Q’s 78%. Gross revenues of c. EGP 1.68 bn were up roughly 20% y-o-y, half the 40% pace of 1Q.

Transactions kept accelerating. Valu processed 5.2 mn transactions in 1H, up 45% y-o-y, and transaction frequency rose to 12.4x per customer from 9.8x a year earlier. It ended the half with 955k active customers and more than 9.8k merchant partners, average daily GMV of EGP 81.1 mn, and c. 29k daily transactions.

The product mix is broadening. The core “U” buy-now-pay-later product remained the largest, with GMV up 22% y-o-y to EGP 7.82 bn. Prepaid-card spending jumped 64% to EGP 3.3 bn across 300k activated cards, while auto-financing product Shift nearly doubled, with GMV up 98% to EGP 2.87 bn. Ulter and Loans rose 26% to EGP 740 mn, and the marketplace Shop’IT has generated EGP 300 mn in GMV since launch.

Asset quality held up. Valu’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio stood at 1.16%, and its market share reached 21% as of May. Its active unbanked customer base grew 41% y-o-y to 390k, generating EGP 2.11 bn in GMV across 872k transactions in 1H.

Why it matters: Valu’s 1.16% NPL ratio comes amid heightened scrutiny of the country’s rapidly growing consumer finance industry, where concerns have centered on whether strong lending is pushing borrowers beyond their repayment capacity. Consumer financing by NBFIs surged 57% y-o-y to EGP 96.3 bn in 2025. However, sector-wide NPLs remained below 3% at the end of 2025, suggesting that the rapid expansion has so far not translated into a broad deterioration in asset quality.

Funding growth: Valu had EGP 24.08 bn in authorized credit facilities from 28 financial institutions. It closed an EGP 881 mn securitization in 2Q — its 22nd issuance — taking cumulative securitized volume to EGP 21.2 bn.

What’s next: The company is advancing to its next phase of growth through “the successful launch in Jordan [in May] and the planned introduction of SME financing in Egypt,” CEO Walid Hassouna said in the release. Valu is also investing in its proprietary technology infrastructure, including a new data center, as it expands into new markets and segments.

Container volumes lift ALCN earnings

Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling’s (ALCN) net income rose 18% y-o-y to EGP 3.8 bn in 1H 2026, according to a disclosure to the bourse (pdf). Revenues increased 3% to EGP 4.58 bn, while gross income grew 5% to EGP 3.54 bn. The company’s gross income margin widened to 77.4% from 76.1% a year earlier.

Behind growth: Container throughput increased 8% y-o-y during the six-month period, outpacing the 3% increase in revenues. Meanwhile, operating cashflows slipped 7% y-o-y to EGP 2.65 bn, while net working capital rose 32% from the end of 2025 to EGP 6.27 bn.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

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6

A MESSAGE FROM AUC ONSI SAWIRIS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Your digital transformation didn’t fail. Your capability plan did.

Most companies that pursue digital transformation do so for the right reasons and still fall short. They see markets shifting, customers expecting more, and legacy operations carrying real cost. The problem often starts with the diagnosis: transformation is treated as a technology upgrade when the harder work is building organizational capability.

New systems improve workflows, but they do not fix fragmented decision-making, unclear ownership, or departments that do not share a view of where the business is going. When technology investments outpace organizational alignment, they tend to expose dysfunction rather than resolve it, leaving initiatives stuck in pilots and unable to scale.

The constraint usually sits inside the organization. A company can digitize its entire operation and still lack the internal capacity to connect technology decisions to strategy, operations, or customer outcomes. Transformation requires more than digitized processes; it requires new ways of operating, making decisions, and creating value. Without that capacity, returns on investment (ROI) are constrained, and the gap between the business case and the actual result becomes difficult to justify.

Closing that gap requires a different kind of groundwork: assessing internal digital and leadership capabilities, evaluating external challenges and opportunities, and understanding what the next investment cycle will demand before committing to it.

This is the focus of AUC Onsi Sawiris School of Business Executive Education’s Digital Transformation Program, which equips executives to conduct internal readiness audits, evaluate capability gaps, and build the conditions for technology investments to deliver. Participants examine how digital technologies are changing core business domains and develop practical methods for measuring transformation success.

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7

Moves

Mastercard names Yasemine Bedir as president for EEMEA region

Mastercard appointed Yasemine Bedir (LinkedIn) as president of its Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA) operations, effective September 1, according to a press release (pdf). Bedir will be based in the UAE and oversee the multinational’s strategy across the 81-country region. She succeeds Dimitrios Dosis (LinkedIn), who steps into the role of chief commercial payments officer.

A Mastercard veteran, Bedir has been with the firm for nearly 20 years, most recently serving as divisional president for Eastern Europe alongside earlier senior roles across the EEMEA region. She also worked with HSBC and Garanti Bank.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

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8

Also on our Radar

FRA slashes review fees by 50% for all sustainable debt to spur stalled market

The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) is extending its 50% reduction on offering-review charges beyond green bonds to a wider range of sustainable securities, the Authority said in a statement. The reduction will apply to both public and private placements of sustainability, sustainability-linked, social, gender, climate, and transition bonds.

IN CONTEXT- Green bonds have had this administrative sweetener since 2018, yet cumulative green and sustainability-linked issuance in Egypt sits at just USD 1.45 bn. Bankers and sustainability experts we spoke to last month confirmed that the regulatory rulebook is not the issue. What is strangling the market is high borrowing costs, a currency that has made foreign-currency-denominated paper expensive, and a thin pipeline of issuance-ready projects. While halving the FRA’s review charges trims one small piece of the upfront transaction bill, it leaves these primary macroeconomic hurdles untouched.

Room to grow

Homegrown hotel chain Sunrise Resorts & Cruises is in final negotiations to secure EGP 8 bn (c. USD 156 mn) in syndicated bank loans from the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and CIB to develop four hotels in Cairo and Marsa Alam, according to Chairman Hossam El Shaer. The resort operator is on track to launch five hotels this year, adding a combined 2k rooms across Makadi, Marsa Alam, and Sharm El Sheikh to capture recovering leisure demand. An additional five properties are scheduled to come online in 2027, featuring developments in Marsa Alam, Sharm El Sheikh, and Cairo.

REMEMBER- Sunrise said last November it planned to add 1.1k rooms in 2026. The new 2k-room target sits within its wider USD 700 mn plan to add 7k rooms by 2028, half of which was expected to be funded through bank facilities.

More bread in the oven

The company behind the Breadway brand, Dough & More Food Industries (Damfi), plans to invest USD 20 mn in a new bakery factory in 6th of October City, according to CEO Osama Aladl. The 5k sqm facility is expected to start operations within around 12 months, with a capacity of 60 tons per day, more than doubling Damfi’s total production capacity to around 100 tons per day.

Where the money comes from: The factory will be financed under a 50/50 debt-to-equity split between bank borrowing and shareholder contributions. Damfi also plans to inject another USD 5 mn to upgrade and replace equipment on its existing production lines. The baked goods maker is also studying an EGX listing as a potential future funding route for further expansion, though the CEO said that no final IPO decision has been made by the board.

REMEMBER- Damfi secured an EGP 480 mn leasing and factoring facility from Beltone in 2023, including EGP 380 mn earmarked for production equipment and assets and another EGP 100 mn for raw materials, inventory, and working capital.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

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9

PLANET FINANCE

Mena M&A value drops 21% to USD 46.7 bn in 1H despite 2Q rebound — EY

The MENA region was home to USD 46.7 bn in M&As in 1H 2026, down 21% y-o-y in terms of value and 10% in terms of volume, Zawya reports, citing EY’s latest M&A Insights report. A total of 390 transactions were recorded over the period, as geopolitical tensions spilled over. Momentum picked up in 2Q driven by a steady pipeline of domestic and outbound M&As, plus sovereign capital, which was the throughline. EY names GCC sovereign wealth funds Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia), Public Investment Fund (PIF), and Mubadala specifically as central to shaping M&A activity across the region in 1H.

Signs of a more selective market: The gap between value and volume points to smaller ticket sizes, with the average transaction coming in at roughly USD 120 mn this year, down from an implied USD 135 mn in 1H 2025. However, that average masks a split year marked by a soft first quarter dragging the half-year number down, while the agreements that did land in the second quarter skewed large.

A 2Q recovery: Transaction value came in at USD 25 bn in 2Q 2026, more than double the USD 12.2 bn recorded in 2Q 2025, with May and June alone accounting for 61% of the quarter’s M&A volume and 79% of its value. Transactions above USD 500 mn made up nearly three-quarters of total value between March and June — when investors came back, they came back big.

Domestic capital did the heavy lifting. Local M&A value exceeded USD 16.0 bn for March-June, more than 4x the same period last year, led by real estate, power and utilities, and tech. Government-related entities were behind much of it, tied to the region’s infrastructure and diversification push.

Outbound held up better than inbound. Regional investors closed 119 outbound M&As worth USD 25.5 bn, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia doing most of the shopping abroad. The two marquee transactions were Dubai Aerospace Enterprise’s USD 7 bn purchase of Macquarie AirFinance and Saudi Electronic Gaming Holding Company’s (Savvy) USD 6 bn acquisition of Shanghai Moonton Technology.

Inbound was the softer side. Foreign buyers pulled back on geopolitical uncertainty, but where capital did land, it went to tech, specifically AI-driven solutions, enterprise digitalization, and software platforms, which dominated inbound agreement value in 2Q. The UAE kept its position as the region’s top inbound destination.

Two other counts tell different stories

LSEG’s own tally put the MENA M&A picture in sharper decline. Transaction value fell 47% y-o-y to USD 48.7 bn in 1H, against a nearly flat M&A count (642 plays, down just 2% y-o-y). LSEG’s broader scope, announced transactions with any MENA involvement, not just completed regional transactions, explains part of the value gap with EY’s number. The same pattern shows up in average transaction size, which fell to roughly USD 76 mn per transaction this year from an implied USD 140 mn in 1H 2025.

PwC’s narrower TransAct Middle East report (pdf) counted 272 M&A agreements in 1H, excluding Morocco and apparently SPAC mergers such as Miotal/Fifth Era. Saudi Arabia led with 74 transactions, while it and the UAE together accounted for 65% of regional volume. PwC didn’t give a total value, but the same shift toward smaller tickets shows up in the numbers. Some 151 disclosed M&As were worth less than USD 100 mn, and only one topped USD 500 mn.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asian markets showed mixed results this morning, with South Korea’s Kospi dropping around 1%, while MSCI’s gauge of Asian equities remained broadly steady. Japan’s stock market is closed today in observance of a national holiday. Meanwhile, US equity-index futures edged lower overall, following fading optimism regarding a US-Iran truce.

EGX30

54,876

-0.5% (YTD: +31.2%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 49.91

Sell 50.05

USD (CIB)

Buy 49.92

Sell 50.02

Interest rates (CBE)

19.00% deposit

20.00% lending

Tadawul

10,846

+0.3% (YTD: +3.4%)

ADX

10,085

-0.1% (YTD: -0.9%)

DFM

5,901

-0.7% (YTD: -2.4%)

S&P 500

7,753

-0.1% (YTD: +13.3%)

FTSE 100

10,863

-0.4% (YTD: +9.4%)

Euro Stoxx 50

6,536

+0.2% (YTD: +12.8%)

Brent crude

USD 87.72

+5.0%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.79

+5.0%

Gold

USD 4,420

+0.5%

BTC

USD 63,985

-1.9% (YTD: -26.9%)

S&P Egypt Sovereign Bond Index

1,092

+0.1% (YTD: +10.0%)

S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk

150.98

+0.0% (YTD: -0.6%)

VIX (Volatility Index)

15.46

+3.8% (YTD: +3.4%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 fell 0.5% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 14.9 bn (49.4% above the 90-day average). Local investors were the sole net buyers. The index is up 31.2% YTD.

In the green: Rameda (+9.3%), Ibnsina Pharma (+5.6%), and Misr Cement (+2.5%).

In the red: Orascom Development (-2.7%), Beltone Holding (-2.2%), and E-finance (-2.0%).

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Our weekly deep dive into the green economy and ESG issue in Egypt.

Published every Tuesday in EnterpriseAM.

Read going Green
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Going Green

Egypt has raised its renewables target to 45% by 2028, without publishing the demand forecast to verify it

Egypt has raised its renewable energy ambitions, at least on paper. The government is now targeting 45% of the electricity mix by 2028, ahead of the country’s existing international commitment.

The shift happened fast. The new target is three percentage points above and two years ahead of Egypt’s existing nationally determined contribution (NDC) target of 42% by 2030 — a target the Electricity Ministry was still describing as “ahead of schedule” as recently as 15 February 2026, according to the presidency statement. The 45% by 2030 framing first surfaced publicly at a 21 April 2026 meeting between Electricity Minister Mahmoud Esmat and Scatec’s Regional Director Mohamed Amer, then got presidential-level confirmation when President Abdel Fattah El Sisi reviewed it with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Esmat in May 2026.

The two targets aren’t reconciled. The 45% by 2028 figure is a domestic energy strategy target set by the Electricity Ministry. It isn’t a UN filing. Egypt doesn’t need to resubmit its NDC to pursue it; the two operate on separate tracks with separate legal weight. But the government hasn’t published an updated energy strategy or explained how the newer, more ambitious target relates to the one it’s still formally committed to internationally.

Megawatts aren’t a generation share. The ministry describes 45% as a share of the electricity mix, but the pathway Esmat laid out to Cabinet on 8 July is expressed entirely in installed capacity.

SOUND SMART- Installed capacity measures what a plant could generate if it ran flat out. Generation share measures what actually reaches the grid over a year, after downtime, weather, and curtailment. A government can hit its capacity target on schedule and still miss its generation-share target if the plants don’t run as often as assumed.

The current base is already sizable. The installed renewable capacity stands at 9.5 GW: almost 3 GW of hydropower, 3.5 GW of solar, and 3 GW of wind. Battery storage adds another 500 MWh.

The ramp gets steeper every year.

  • End of 2026: 11.2 GW installed (adding 1.7 GW, mainly solar);
  • End of 2027: 16.8 GW installed (adding 5.6 GW);
  • End of 2028: 27.7 GW installed (adding almost 11 GW).

The 2028 addition is almost twice the preceding year’s planned increase — and would require projects not yet at financial close or construction to move through financing, procurement, grid connection, and commissioning within that window.

The ministry hasn’t published the numbers that would answer the question. It has not announced the expected annual output of the full 27.7 GW fleet, the assumed capacity factors, expected curtailment, or a forecast for total electricity generation in 2028. The gap matters.

The Egyptian Electricity Holding Company’s (EEHC) FY 2026/27 planning budget targets total electricity generation of 263 TWh — a 45% renewable share would require 118 TWh of renewable generation. That figure is a reference point, not a 2028 forecast, and actual 2028 demand will differ.

A credible core of projects is moving forward, but not all are confirmed. Scatec brought the first phase of Obelisk into commercial operations on 23 February 2026, while its 1.95 GW Energy Valley is also expected to reach financial close by 2H 2026. Acwa Power and Hassan Allam Utilities’ 1.1 GW Suez wind project reached financial close in January 2025 and is under construction, targeting full commercial operations by 2Q 2027. A three-way consortium of Aeolus, Engie, and Orascom Construction signed a 25-year PPA on 24 March 2026 for a 900 MW wind farm near Ras Shokeir; its first 300 MW phase is due online in December 2027, with the full project not reaching commercial operation until mid-2028.

The grid has its own deadline, and it’s not 2028. The EU is putting up EUR 690 mn to upgrade our electricity transmission network and integrate 22 GW of new renewable capacity into the grid by 2030. The Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) will use the financing for new substations and high-voltage transmission lines carrying solar and wind power from the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez to the national grid, with EU money covering 44% of the total program cost and EETC funding the balance.

A serious effort isn’t the same as an assured one. The package is evidence of real grid-modernization work, but its timetable doesn’t by itself establish that every upgrade required for the target will be completed by then. The EIB-supported phase (EUR 600 mn) will run from 2027 to 2030, with the government acting as borrower through the Central Bank of Egypt.

Egypt’s fiscal risk statement on climate change doesn’t answer the grid question either. The statement assesses the climate-related fiscal exposure of public assets and public-private partnerships, including 13 build-own-operate renewable projects with state-backed PPAs, and rates PPP climate risk overall as “low and manageable.” But this is not a grid-hosting-capacity study and does not directly show how much variable generation the transmission system can absorb.

What about interconnections? Egypt already exchanges electricity through links with Libya, Sudan, and Jordan. Its 3 GW link with Saudi Arabia has missed several announced launch dates, most recently slipping to the end of 2026 after Egypt’s Electricity Ministry said in February that operations would begin “within the coming weeks.” But interconnections don’t help here — they can balance supply and demand and create markets for surplus electricity, but they don’t generate power themselves.

OUR TAKE- The 45% by 2028 target is now official domestic policy. The government has published a detailed capacity pathway and assembled a real pipeline of generation and transmission projects behind it. What we haven’t seen is the bridge between those two claims: without a 2028 demand forecast, the government’s MW additions can’t be converted into a verified share of annual output. Egypt may well hit the megawatts on schedule. Whether that adds up to 45% of the electricity actually generated is a number no one in the government has published yet.

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

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CALENDAR

AUGUST

19 August (Wednesday): Connected Banking Summit, Fairmont Nile City Hotel Cairo.

20 August (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s fifth meeting of 2026.

26 August (Wednesday): Prophet Muhammad’s birthday.

SEPTEMBER

8-10 September (Tuesday-Thursday) El Alamein International Airshow, El Alamein International Airport.

10-12 September (Thursday-Saturday): Egyptian Entrepreneurship Sector Diagnostics Report Summit, El Gouna.

15 September (Tuesday): IMF to hold its eighth review of Egypt’s USD 8 bn EFF arrangement.

24 September (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s sixth meeting of 2026.

27-29 September (Sunday-Tuesday): Global Conference on Population, Health, and Human Development.

28-29 September (Monday-Tuesday): Egypt Mining Forum, St. Regis Hotel New Capital.

30 September - October 3 (Wednesday-Saturday): Cityscape, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

OCTOBER

5 October (Monday): The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum.

6 October (Tuesday): Armed Forces Day.

10-11 October (Saturday-Sunday): Egypt Women’s Health Summit (EWHS), Cairo Marriott Hotel.

26-28 October (Monday-Wednesday): IEX Egypt, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

29 October (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s seventh meeting of 2026.

NOVEMBER

6-8 November (Friday-Sunday) : Global Entrepreneurship Festival, JW Marriott Hotel, New Cairo.

8-11 November (Sunday-Wednesday): Cairo ICT Forum.

DECEMBER

7-10 December (Monday-Thursday): Food Africa, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

17 December (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s eighth meeting of 2026.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

Mid-August: IMF Board expected to decide on the seventh review of the loan program.

2H 2026: Operations at Deli Glass Co’s new USD 70 mn glassware factory kick off.

2026: The Egyptian-American Economic Forum.

4Q 2026: Banque du Caire IPO.

2027

20 January-7 February: Egypt to host the African Games.

1-3 February (Monday-Wednesday): Agri Expo, Cairo International Convention Center.

April 2027: Tenth of Ramadan dry port and logistics hub to begin operations.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2027: Egypt to host EBRD’s annual meetings.

2027: Egypt-EU Summit 2027.

End of 2027: Trial operations at the Dabaa nuclear power plant expected to take place.

September 2028: First unit of the Dabaa nuclear power plant begins operations.

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