Good morning, friends, and happy Labour Day to those of you observing the occasion in Egypt and around the world.

We have another long weekend ahead of us thanks to Labor Day, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly confirmed yesterday. The private sector, civil servants and public-sector workers will all take the day off on Thursday, 4 May, Madbouly said.

GEM to open by November? The government has set November as the date for the long-awaited opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) at the Giza Pyramids complex, Asharq Business reports an unnamed official as saying. Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and Japan’s Fumio Kishida, who on a three-day visit to Cairo, toured the facility yesterday and held a joint presser with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly. Japan has been on of the primary backers of the museum, with JICA having provided hundreds of mns of USD in funding for the GEM.

What to look for: Given the importance of the GEM to our tourism strategy — and its cultural significance internationally — President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will want to host a world-scale opening ceremony with participation from heads of state and prime ministers. November, being six months out, sounds about right, but it’s not real until someone in government says it is.

Background: The opening of the USD 1 bn museum — which had been initially set for June 2020 — was postponed thanks to the outbreak of covid-19. The GEM is part of our tourism revival strategy, which aims to bring in 30 mn visitors annually by 2028 and help raise much needed hard currency.

^^ Kishida also pledged yesterday some USD 733 mn in new funding for the Cairo Metro. We have the rundown in Diplomacy, below, and additional coverage of his visit in Last Night’s Talk Shows.

IT’S THE START OF A NEW MONTH- Here are the key data points to look out for in May:

  • PMI: S&P Global should publish the April purchasing managers’ index this Wednesday, 3 May;
  • Foreign reserves: The central bank is due to release April’s foreign reserves figures sometime this week;
  • Inflation: Inflationfigures for April will be out next Wednesday, 10 May;
  • Interest rates: The Central Bank of Egypt will next meet on Thursday, 18 May to discuss interest rates.

WATCH THIS SPACE- Government officials yesterday met with officials from two of the countries we’re counting on for game-changing FDI:

  • The UAE and ADQ: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly held talks yesterday with the CEO of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ, Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, according to a cabinet statement. Alsuwaidi said the fund was interested in acquiring more assets in Egypt and expressed interest in the government’s privatization program.
  • Qatar: Finance Minister Mohamed Maait met with his Qatari counterpart, Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, to discuss boosting investment inflows from Qatar as well as cooperation on tax, customs, and in the financial sector, the ministry said in a statement yesterday. The Qatari minister also invited Maait to attend the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha later this month.

Subsidized commodities just got more expensive: The Supply Ministry is from today raising the prices of almost all subsidized commodities sold to ration card holders, Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa (watch, runtime: 4:41) said last night.

As of today:

  • the price of a bottle of cooking oil will rise 20% to EGP 30, up from EGP 25;
  • 1 kg of rice will rise 14% to EGP 12, from EGP 10.50;
  • 1 kg of sugar will increase 20% to EGP 12.6, up from EGP 10.50;
  • Pasta will rise to EGP 13 for 800g or EGP 6.50 for 400g;
  • 500 grams of lentils will be sold at EGP 21;
  • 40 grams of tea will rise to EGP 5.

Background- The ministry announced over the weekend that it would soon begin to incrementally raise prices to lower its subsidy bill and cut costs. Minister Ali El Moselhy justified the move saying that without such price hikes “the government will not be able to fund or provide these commodities.”

HAPPENING TODAY-

#1- The African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association’s annual summit:AVCA’s annual get-together and VC summit gets underway at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza today. Billing itself as the world’s largest Africa-focused private capital gathering, the five-day summit will bring together investors with more than USD 1.5 tn in assets under management. Multilateral lenders and policymakers are also attending.

#2- Shoukry in Amman to talk rapprochement with Syria: Foreign Ministry Sameh Shoukry is in Jordan today for talks with the top diplomats of several Arab countries about bringing Syria back into the Arab League. The foreign ministers of Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq will participate in the meeting alongside Shoukry, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday. This is a follow-up on last month’s meeting, which saw regional diplomats agree to “intensify consultations” to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

Remember: Egypt and Saudi Arabia are leading efforts to bring Syria back into the Arab fold after more than a decade as a regional pariah due to its civil war. Shoukry and Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud have met multiple times with Syria’s top diplomat, Faisal Mekdad, in recent weeks to discuss restoring diplomatic ties ahead of the Arab League summit in Riyadh later this month.

#3- CBE treasury auction: The Central Bank of Egypt will try to sell USD 1 bn of one-year USD-denominated treasury bills in an auction today, according to its website.

It will also hold an auction this week for three-year EGP bonds: The central bank is looking to sell EGP 3 bn of bonds. The central bank sold less than 0.1% of the bonds offered in two similar auctions last month after investors demanded high yields due to rising uncertainty about the trajectory of the EGP.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

National Dialogue kicks off: The National Dialogue will hold its first session on Wednesday. The dialogue was initially set to kick off in January but was postponed after the political parties failed to name their representatives to the sessions on time.

It’s Fed week: The Federal Reserve will hold its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday — and signs point to a 25-bps interest rate hike as the Fed works to contain soaring inflation, according to Bloomberg. A 25-bps hike will push the fed funds rate to 5-5.25% — the highest level since 2007 — and would be the tenth consecutive hike by the central bank since it started aggressively tightening policy to curb inflation last year.

But it could be one of the Fed’s hikes last for the foreseeable future as the US inches towards a recession. “After hiking the fed funds rate one more notch at the May 2-3 meeting, the FOMC will probably declare they think they’ve done enough to bring inflation back down to the 2% target,” one analyst said. Another described this week’s meeting as “pivotal” as it comes at a point in the tightening cycle “where backlash to rate hikes will intensify, in ways no one on the Fed has had to weather.”

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

First Republic is leading the conversation in the global business press for the second day as US regulators continue efforts to find a buyer for the embattled lender. The Federal Deposit Ins. Corporation’s (FDIC) is expected to unveil its chosen buyer before the start of the business day in America today.

Who’s in the running? JPMorgan Chase, PNC Financial Services, and Citizens Financial Group, were among the banks that had submitted takeover bids for First Republic, sources familiar with the matter have reportedly said. (AP | Reuters | Bloomberg | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal | BBC)

ALSO- Saudi + Iran to reopen embassies in days: Saudi Arabia and Iran will reopen their embassies in Tehran and Riyadh “within days,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian is quoted by Reuters as saying during a conference. This would mark the latest sign of warming ties between the two countries after years of hostility.

ICYMI: Earlier this year Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to normalize relations in a China-brokered agreement. The groundwork is being laid for Saudi King Salman and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to visit each other's countries in what would be a historic rapprochement between the former foes.

ICYMI-

Missed this week’s Inside Industry? In our weekly vertical exploring all things industry and manufacturing, we looked at the Federation of Egyptian Industries’ work with manufacturers operating in the shadow economy to assist them with going legit.

The Enterprise Exports & FDI Forum, our latest industry-specific conference, is taking place on Monday, 15 May at the Four Seasons Cairo Nile Plaza The Enterprise Exports & FDI Forum will give insiders and newcomers alike the chance to talk about how to develop an export-centered business and how their companies can help Egypt build an export-led economy that makes us a magnet for foreign direct investment (FDI).

Why exports & FDI? In the wake of successive floats of EGP, exports and FDI have never been more important to our economy — or our businesses. We’re gathering some of the CEOs, top execs from local companies and multinationals, investors, bankers and finance folks to speak on how businesses can adapt their strategies to be export-oriented and what Egypt as a country can do to draw foreign investment and much-needed FX. Expect it to be heavy on lessons learned in Egypt and other global growth markets — and lots of success stories.You can learn more on our conference website here.

Some of the biggest names in business and finance are on board — are you? The Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum is taking place with the generous support of our friends, including:

Banking partners: Banque Misr | Al Baraka Bank | Emirates NBD | HSBC

Lead partners: DB Schenker | DP World | East Port Said Development | IDG | IFC | Madinat Masr

Event partners: Beyti | Concrete | Global Corp | Grant Thornton | Hassan Allam Utilities

WANT TO BECOME A COMMERCIAL PARTNER? Ping a note to Moustafa, our head of commercial, here.

HAVEN’T REQUESTED AN INVITE YET? If you’re a C-suite exec, business owner, DFI staff, export executive, investor or banker, please fill out the form here to signal your interest, letting us know your name, title and where you work.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Attention, squash players and fans: Our friends at upmarket real estate developer SODIC are hosting the SODIC Squash Tour at Club S Allegria, a series of tournaments held under the auspices of the Professional Squash Association, it said in a statement(pdf). The company is playing host to nine tournaments this year, three of which took place in February.

Need funding for a project involving job creation? Look no further. German development agency GIZ’s Facility Investing for Employment will start accepting proposals for its latest competition round on 1 June, it said in astatement (pdf). The selected projects can secure grants of EUR 1-10 mn, covering between 25-90% of the investment cost of the project depending on its type.

Interested? Companies can submit applications from 1-30 June. The competition is open to private and public sector companies operating in all sectors of the economy, on the condition that the project contributes to sustainable job creation in the private sector. Also participating this time around are Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia, alongside Egypt.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

*** It’s Blackboard day: We have our weekly look at the business of education in Egypt, from pre-K through the highest reaches of higher ed.

In today’s issue: Two years later, private universities are officially leaving the Tansik system behind and sticking to direct admissions.

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