Good morning folks, and happy Friday. The mercury is racing upwards and many of us stuck in the city are looking for ways to keep busy until we can escape to the North Coast.
Won’t get up early for breakfast and can’t commit to lunch? Then check out our tried and tested brunch destinations in the city. Whether you want to take out the family or crave a change with some friends, you can indulge in one of the several restaurant spots that will please your palate and satisfy your appetite.
Enterprise Weekend comes out each Friday at 9:00am CLT. We’ll be back on Sunday at 6am with Enterprise Egypt AM. Until then: Enjoy the weekend.
LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS-
ECONOMY
#1- USD 20 bn tranche of Ras El Hekma funds land in state coffers:Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ delivered the second and final tranche of the Ras El Hekma funds on Sunday. The USD 20 bn tranche consists of USD 14 bn fresh inflows and USD 6 bn in the form of a previous UAE deposit at the Central Bank of Egypt.
#2- External debt inches up in 1H: Egypt’s foreign debt hit USD 168 bn during the first half of the current fiscal year, climbing by USD 3.3 bn from the end of fiscal year 2022-2023. But, we expect things to look different in the coming report, as USD 11 bn of our external debt will be written off thanks to the USD 35 bn Ras El Hekma agreement inked in March.
#3- Inflation cooled for the second month in a row: Broadly in line with analyst expectations, annual urban inflation fell to 32.5% in April on the back of slower food price increases as traders continued to price at a lower exchange rate than in the now-defunct parallel market. Food inflation slowed by a notable 4.5 percentage points to 40.5%, at least in part thanks to the state’s initiative it launched during Ramadan to trim commodity prices by up to 30%.
#4- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has cut our growth forecast for 2024 to 3.9%, down 0.6 percentage points from its September forecast. However, the EBRD saved its largest forecast cut for the current fiscal year, which it now sees growing at 1.8 percentage points slower at 3.0%.
CAPITAL MARKETS
Enterprise sat down with Qalaa Holdings Chairman and Founder Ahmed Heikal to unpack Qalaa’s fresh plans to ease debt obligations: Qalaa Holdings has outlined a plan to shed USD 430 mn in foreign-currency debt. The mechanics of its plan weren’t immediately clear to everyone, so we spoke with Heikal this week to get the inside track on the transaction and why he thinks it’s good for shareholders.
DEVELOPMENT FINANCE
The IFC lined up USD 100 mn for MSMEs this week: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has agreed to grant Banque du Caire USD 100 mn in financing to be on-lent to micro, small, and medium enterprises, and female entrepreneurs. This came during the IFC Regional Vice President for Africa Sérgio Pimenta’s three-day visit to Egypt.
It has also earmarked USD 50 mn to support entrepreneurs via a private equity fund: The IFC pledged to invest USD 50 mn in SPE PEF III — an SPE Capital-run private equity fund that focuses on mid-cap companies in Africa — to support entrepreneurs and create more jobs. At least a quarter of the fund’s capital will go to women entrepreneurs.
ENERGY
QatarEnergy to snap up stakes in two offshore exploration blocks: Qatari state-owned oil and gas company QatarEnergy is set to acquire a 40% working interest in ExxonMobil’s Cairo and Masry offshore concessions under a farm-in agreement inked by the two parties. ExxonMobil will retain the remaining 60% of the two concessions.
HEALTHCARE
New state-led healthcare investment incentives: The government has drawn up freshincentives for investment in healthcare projects across the country, with eligible projects able to secure golden licenses, exemptions from usufruct fees, and even the state helping cover training costs.
WHAT’S HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

The Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will meet on Thursday to review rates: Most analysts are yet to unveil their forecasts, but Goldman Sachs expects the CBE to cut rates by 200 bps at its next policy meeting to bring rates down after its 600 bps rate hike in March alongside the EGP float.
Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.
AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS-

Israel’s war on Gaza sadly topped the headlines for another week, with some 300k Palestinians on the move in Gaza after being forced out of Rafah by the Israeli army. “Many say they have nowhere to go,” wrote the New York Times in the understatement of the year.
WHILE IN BUSINESS NEWS- The US went on the offensive in the trade war with China,with the White House earlier this week announcing a raft of tariff increases on USD 18 bn worth of Chinese imports that will see tariffs on Chinese EVs will quadruple to 100%, those on lithium-ion EV batteries to more than triple to 25%, those on solar cells to double to 50%.
AND IN TECH NEWS- The Google I/O developer conference kicked off this week, with the Mountain View company announcing its new AI assistant Project Astra. Think of Project Astra as your personal assistant who can help you find the keys you misplaced or explain a complicated piece of code. Project Astra can interact with users through text, audio, and video. The tech giant also unveiled its plans to start rolling out AI search summaries to its users, starting in the US.
ChatGPT4 just got an upgrade, and the result is eerily similar to Scarlett Johansson in the movie Her: Dubbed Chat-GPT4o by OpenAI, the latest edition of the AI tool has already set the internet on fire for sounding exactly like Scarlett Johansson in Her, a movie in which a character falls in love with an AI voice assistant. You chat with GPT4o using your voice — and it can turn on your device’s camera to have a look around if it’s relevant to your ‘conversation.’ And unlike the current incarnation of Siri, it appears pretty seamless.
Also putting OpenAI in the headlines was news that its co-founder and chief scientist isout. Ilya Sutskever is leaving the organization six months after he participated in a palace coup that saw CEO Sam Altman briefly kicked out of the hot AI startup.
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☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND- Friday will be showing sunny highs of 37°C and lows of 20°C. Saturday’s will climb up to a high of 41°C and a low of 22°C, according to our favorite weather app.
HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-
Turning Tables is about the complex human relationships we all know and love. Catch ACT Theatre Group’s latest production tonight. Can’t make it? They are playing tomorrow, too, at Rawabet Art Space. Grab your tickets here.
Fans of Cairokee and Marwan Pablo need to catch theirperformance of El Mahatta at The American University in Cairo tonight. Get your tickets now while you can on Tazkarti.
An art exhibition that supports both Egyptian contemporary artists and a local charity.The eighth edition of Le Printemps Des Artistes will take place at Villa Magenta in Heliopolis tonight and tomorrow. Entry is open to the public and without fees.
Zawya’s Cairo Cinema Days is back: Zawya’s film program is a showcase of the latest and most prominent productions in Arab cinema within the past year. All through July 31, you can watch films from Palestine, Lebanon, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, and Egypt. You can find more information on this month’s film selection here.
Do you think you’ve got the chops to go head to head with the country’s best gamers? Red Bull Login gives you the chance to prove yourself. This event, taking place tomorrow at District 5, invites players across all platforms to compete for the top spot through regular games and special Boss Fight events. Raise your rank by booking a ticket here.
HAPPENING NEXT WEEKEND-
Celebrate Disco Masr’s eighth album release at their concert on Friday, 24 May at Zed Park Sheikh Zayed. Grab your tickets here.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of the future of design at The Design Show in Cairo International Conventions Center from Wednesday, 22 May till Friday, 24 May. Attracting over 20k industry professionals, architects, interior designers, furniture manufacturers, and design solution providers alike will converge to unveil their latest innovations. Register your interest to visit here.
Is nighttime running on your bucket list? The TriFactory and Palm Hills Developments are bringing you The Glow Run on Friday, 24 May for a 5k run through the landscapes of 6 October golf course with UV lights and neon signs to guide you—there's even a special guest DJ making an appearance at the start and finish line. Register here.
Not one for sports, have a laugh at The Elite Super Show in Cairo International Stadium on Friday, 24 May—featuring all loved and upcoming seven comedians. Get you tickets here.



