Good morning friends, and welcome to the weekend. We have a busy issue lined up for you with updates on our fuel prices and the CBE’s decision regarding the interest rates alongside a stream of news on Israel’s assault on Gaza.

In this week’s Enterprise Guide: Pottery has since ancient times been an art form that transcends time and place. Not only for its aesthetic value, but for its creative appeal. Molding something using your bare hands is both therapeutic and rewarding, and today, we have the lowdown on the places where you can go to do just that.

Enterprise Weekend comes out each Friday at 9:00am CLT. We’ll be back on Sunday at 6am with EnterpriseAM. Until then: Enjoy the weekend.

HELP SUPPORT GAZANS-

Want to support relief efforts in Gaza, but don’t know where to start? We’ve got you. More than 1 mn people in Gaza have been thrown from their homes and every human being there lacks access to food, water, and fuel amid the most intense bombardment any population has endured this century. The charities we’re listing below are Egyptian organizations working on Gaza relief that we think you can trust if you want to make a donation.

#1- Egyptian Red Crescent Society is one of the nation’s leading providers of humanitarian and emergency medical services. The Egypt Red Crescent accepts donations in EGP online and is on Fawry with the service code 99981. You can also donate to the organization through this Banque du Caire account: 49/403/30 (EGP) or 1065/601/30 (USD — code: BCAIEGCX030).

#2- Egyptian Food Bank: The food bank has launched “Aid Gaza,” a hunger-relief campaign to supply essential food items to the people of Gaza. You can make an online donation through EFB’s website or the unified bank account number 888777 at every bank in Egypt. Do you live abroad? The EFB has a list of its verified accounts at major institutions (along with account numbers) here.

#3- The Mersal Foundation is a non-profit medical organization running medical aid convoys to Gaza. It is on Fawry using service code 9200 or you can donate through its EGP accounts at major national banks including CIB (100034654454), Banque Misr (5450001000003297), Emirates NBD (1019409332701), National Bank of Egypt (1953071376769426268), AAIB (1015996610010201), QNB (7352031181714268). The group lists other ways you can donate on its Facebook page.

#4- Lifemakers: The NGO, which has a record of providing medical, educational and social care services to Palestinians, has been helping to prepare aid convoys ahead of dispatch to deliver food, medical supplies, water, blankets, clothing, and other essentials to the besieged Gaza strip since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Donate through the foundation’s website or use Fawry code 950. Lifemakers also accepts donations for Gaza relief in EGP via CIB (account 100034226827) and NBE (0773070478998401017).

Some BREAKING NEWS before we get on to our three-minute guide to the week that was:

Gov’t hikes fuel prices: Your commute has become pricier, as the Oil Ministry raises gasoline prices by 9-14%, it said in a statement last night. The price of diesel and natgas fuel were kept unchanged.

Gasoline prices as of 8am CLT this morning:

  • 95-Octane is EGP 12.50 per liter, up 8.7% from the previous EGP 11.50;
  • 92-Octane is EGP 11.50 per liter, up 12.2% from the previous EGP 10.25;
  • 80-Octane is EGP 10.0 per liter, up 14% from the previous EGP 8.75.

The Central Bank of Egypt left interest rates unchanged yesterday,it said in a statement, citing the easing of inflationary pressures worldwide as one of the factors behind its decision.

Where rates stand: The overnight deposit rate is at 19.25%, the overnight lending rate is at 20.25%, while the main operation and disc. rates are both at 19.75%.

LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS-

The story of the week: Israel stepped up its war on Gaza. Nearly half of the nearly 9k Palestinians killed are children, according to data from the Gaza Health Ministry. The IDF assault, which has broadened to add troops alongside fixed and rotary-wing aircraft and drones, has damaged or flattened more than one out of every four buildings in Gaza, including some 260 healthcare facilities and 42 UN buildings. Israel’s attack is now in its fourth week.

In business news: It was a big week for manufacturing and energy news — and the Madbouly government made important progress on the privatization front, locking in USD 800 mn from UAE wealth fund ADQ even as it built a new pipeline of investments that appears to have caught the eye of the the UAE’s investment minister. (And yes, it’s totally fine if you feel half-hearted about economic news right now.)

KEY EVENTS IN ISRAEL’S WAR ON GAZA-

#1- Two drones crashed in Taba and Nuweiba last Friday, causing explosions and injuring six people. The Egyptian military said the drones had been launched from the south of the Red Sea. The incident prompted President Abel Fattah El Sisi to warn against the potential widening of the conflict.

#2- Israel and the US were among just 14 countries that voted against a resolution calling for a ceasefire at the UN General Assembly on Friday — while 121 countries voted in favor of the Jordan-led resolution for an “immediate, durable” humanitarian truce and 44 abstained.

#3- Israel plunged Gaza into a communications blackout on Friday as it stepped up its bombardment of the strip and began its ground invasion. Communications were restored two days later to parts of Gaza, though coverage over the north of the territory remained out.

#4- Hamas fighters battled Israeli soldiers and tanks in northern Gaza as the IDF pushed deeper into the besieged enclave.

#5- Just 272 trucks have made it from Egypt into Gaza since the conflict began on 7 October, the Palestinian Red Crescent said earlier this week. Israel is preventing fuel from entering the strip in addition to demanding that all cargo entering the strip be searched.

Prior to the war, Gaza was receiving 450 trucks daily through the Rafah crossing, shared Lynn Hastings, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in a press briefing last week.

#7- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to lobby for resettling displaced Palestinian refugees in Sinai. Israeli intelligence officials have reportedly drawn up a plan to forcibly transfer the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 mn population to the Sinai peninsula.

#8- Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly on Tuesday raised the threat of hostilities if the Israeli government tries to push ahead with the plan. “We are prepared to sacrifice mns of lives to ensure that no one encroaches upon [Sinai],” Madbouly said in a speech in North Sinai on Tuesday.

#9- More than 1k people were “killed, injured or missing” after two days of Israeli attacks on the densely-populated Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza, according to figures from the Gaza Health Ministry released yesterday. The neighborhood was assaulted on Tuesday and Wednesday.

WE HAD SOME ECONOMY NEWS-

#1- The private-sector minimum wage will rise by 17% starting January 2024:Private-sector firms will have to pay their employees a gross wage of at least EGP 3.5k a month from January, up from EGP 3k currently.

#2- Our net foreign assets gap widened in September to negative USD 26.8 bn from negative USD 25.9 bn the month prior. This marks the first jump in net foreign liabilities since June, when they hit a record high of USD 27.1 bn.

#3- We lined up some more debt with a facility worth nearly USD 1 bn from the Chinese Development Bank hitting the CBE’s coffers earlier this week. The funding is earmarked for unspecified projects under the umbrella of China’s infrastructure-focused “belt and road” program. The news came the same week as the House of Representatives voted to allow the Finance Ministry to conclude a USD 500 mn loan from Deutsche Bank and the Arab Banking Corporation.

A SPATTERING OF ENERGY UPDATES-

#1- Israel has sharply cut back natural gas exports to Egypt earlier as the war in Gaza disrupts production in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Madbouly cabinet said that the country’s gas imports have fallen to a fraction of the previous 800 mn cubic feet of gas per day — and named it as one of the main reasons for the worsening blackouts that began last week.

Energy-intensive industries have seen their gas supplies cut as a consequence. Fertilizer companies have reportedly seen supplies reduced by 30%. Separate reports indicate that other industries — including iron and aluminum — are also experiencing temporary supply cuts.

#2- The Electricity Ministry has reportedly extended the duration of daily power cuts to 90 minutes from one hour. It isn’t clear whether this is a change in policy or a one-off prompted by halted gas exports from Israel.

#3- Italian energy giant Eni expects to resume LNG exports from Egypt when seasonal demand eases even as Israel’s war in Gaza curbs our imports of Israeli gas.

A USD 800 MN PRIVATIZATION STORY-

ADQ snapped up a minority stake in Elab, Ethydco, and EDC: Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ADQ signed contracts with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt to finalize its acquisition of minority stakes in three state-owned oil and petrochemical companies in a transaction worth USD 800 mn.

What did they get? ADQ acquired a 35% stake in Egyptian Linear Alkyl Benzene (Elab), 30% of Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives Company (Ethydco), and 25% of the Egyptian Drilling Company (EDC).

WATCH THIS SPACE-

Are we lining up a bolus of investment from the UAE? That was the suggestion following Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly’s meeting this week with UAE Investment Minister Mohamed Alsuwaidi (who also serves as CEO of sovereign wealth fund ADQ). There’s been no word on the sectors or companies in which ADQ or other Emirati investors might be interested.

WHEREAS IN MANUFACTURING-

#1- The investment regulator-cum-promotion-agency GAFI handed out four golden licensesthis week to Samsung, GASCO, Fayoum Storage and Warehouses Company, and EgyptSat Auto:

  • South Korean electronics giant Samsung will invest USD 55 mn in its new mobile phone assembly facility at its industrial complex in Beni Suef.
  • Local EV manufacturer EgyptSat Auto will build a EGP 300 mn factory in Tenth of Ramadan
  • State-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Company (GASCO) will invest USD 380 mn to expand its gas complex in Alexandria.
  • The Fayoum Company for Storage and Warehouses will work on a EGP 1.3 bn project to establish new strategic warehouses in Fayoum.

#2- French electrical equipment manufacturer Schneider Electric plans to invest EUR 30 mn into its Badr City factory until 2025. The fresh capital will increase the production capacity of low- and medium-voltage electrical panels and the company’s smart ring connection units.

AND FINALLY SOME LEGISLATION WENT THROUGH-

Foreign investors can now become importers for a ten-year period that can be renewed once. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi this week signed into law a bill that will allow foreign investors to hold stakes of up to 49% in trading companies that import into Egypt. The next step: We will need to see the executive regulations to the bill to understand how it will come into effect.

The second iteration of the government’s car import scheme was also signed into law, allowing expats to import new cars tax- and customs-free provided they pay the fees in FX.

WHAT’S HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

The Senate will be back in session on Sunday, 5 November following a two week recess.

The Turkish-Arab Economic Forum takes place on Wednesday, 8 November in Istanbul. Arab and Turkish business leaders, investors and government officials are expected to be in attendance.

The Intra-African Trade Fairwill run from 9-15 November (Thursday-Wednesday) at the Egypt International Exhibition Center and Al Manara International Conference Center.

ALSO- Investors will be able to submit offers for Wataniya next week. Investors that have completed due diligence on military-owned filling station operator Wataniya will be able to submit final offers for a stake in the company next week when the state re-opens the bidding process. Bidders will have two weeks to get offers in.

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

YOUR MOST CLICKED LINKS-

We are blessed to have good and generous readers: The two most-clicked links this week were to sites where readers can make donations to help civilians in Gaza suffering under a brutal Israeli assault:

AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS-

Israel’s war in Gaza has the international business press asking what could be in store for the global economy. “The higher the risk of escalation [in Gaza], the higher the risk of contagion to the rest of the world in terms of economics and finance,” always-on-point markets sage Mohamed El Erian said, according to CNBC.

We’re already seeing some volatility in oil and gas markets: European gas prices have already risen some 40% since the war on Gaza broke out on 7 October, Euronews reported. Meanwhile, the World Bank sees oil prices soaring as high as USD 140-157 a barrel if the war escalates to cause “large disruptions,” which would shrink global oil supply by 6-8 mn bbl / day. Prices have so far risen 6% since the start of the conflict in Gaza.

The US’ continued build up of troops in the region also got some attention: The Pentagon said that the US is deploying another 300 troops to the region, in addition to the two aircraft carrier strike groups, several thousand troops, fighter jets, and missile batteries it has already deployed to the region since 7 October as a deterrent to other regional actors from entering the conflict.

Elsewhere in the region, Sudan’s warring parties’ meeting in Riyadh got some coverage: Thegeneral Abdel Fattah Al Burhan-led Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) resumed the latest round of Saudi and US-mediated peace talks in Jeddah “in partnership” with the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. Saudi Arabia called for the parties to abide by the Jeddah Declaration to protect civilians and a short-term ceasefire agreement.

ALSO- FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried’s court testimony in New York generated some buzz: Bankman-Fried alleged that he had little to no information regarding the financial relationship between the collapsed crypto exchange and its affiliated hedge fund Alameda Research.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-

The exhibition Forever Is Now is back again at the Pyramids, open 9am until 4pm daily through 18 November. Book your ticket here or buy one on arrival.

Music enthusiasts, this one’s for you: The annual Cairo International Jazz Festival is still going at AUC’s Tahrir campus and will continue until Friday, 3 November. More here.

Looking for adventure? Get into the spooky spirit with night hiking in Wadi Degla with the Egyptian Wild Animals Service (EWAS) on Friday, 3 November.

Cairocomix festival is back, kicking off today, and running through Sunday, 5 November, at the Mahmoud Mokhtar Cultural Center. There is no admission fee. You can explore the program here.

Great Symphonies III x Cairo Opera House. The Cairo Symphony Orchestra headed by the maestro Ahmed El Saedi will be performing at the Main Hall, Cairo Opera House tomorrow. The concert will start at 8pm sharp. Book your ticket here.

Mahmoud Saad will also host comedian Ahmed Helmy tomorrow, followed by a concert featuring Wust El Balad, also at Theatro Arkan. Click here to reserve your tickets.

☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND- The weather will continue to be hot today, with the temperature rising to a high of 31°C and drop to a cooler 21°C. Tomorrow offers much of the same, with the mercury rising to 33°C at its peak during the daytime and dropping to a cooler 20°C in the evening, according to our favorite weather app.

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