Full exit from GlobalCorp?

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

SFE hands Misr Life IPO to EFG Hermes

Good morning, friends. Topping our coverage this morning: Investors in our friends at GlobalCorp, the homegrown non-bank financial services outfit, plan to exit in a private placement that could value the firm at roughly USD 200 mn. The transaction could see up to 100% of the company change hands within the next two to four months as it opens its virtual data room for bidders this week.

We’re also tracking a wave of fresh FDI heading toward our blue economy, as Greece and Algeria pitch new aquaculture investments following the EU’s green light for our farmed fish.

Also on our radar this morning: The government is gearing up to fold the automotive industry into its export subsidy program, earmarking EGP 5.5 bn for the upcoming FY to support local automakers.

***

WISH THIS MORNING’S ISSUE was a podcast? We’ve got you. Tap or click here to listen to Morning Drive, a 10-minute version of today’s issue crafted for you to enjoy with your morning coffee, while getting the kids ready for school, or while stomping around the house wondering where the [redacted] you left your [redacted] reading glasses.***

EFG Hermes gets Misr Life IPO nod

Our friends at EFG Hermes are set to quarterback the upcoming IPO of Misr Life Ins. as sole global coordinators and bookrunners after being tapped by the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE), according to a statement (pdf). A 20% stake in the state ins. firm should soon be up for grabs on the EGX as part of a broader state privatization push. The IPO-hopeful, owned by SFE subsidiary Misr Ins. Holding, is temporarily listed but not yet trading.

REMEMBER- SFE opened the bidding in early March, with EFG Hermes said to be among four investment banks — including CI Capital, Al Ahly Pharos, and Arqaam Capital — vying for the mandate to lead the government’s latest wave of offerings. The bidding for phase four of the government’s privatization drive fell far short of its USD 1.9 bn target at only USD 142 mn, but expect a roadshow to shore up more interest by the end of June, if things stay on track.

Higher gas prices for industry

The Madbouly government has hiked natural gas prices for energy-intensive sectors by USD 2 per mn British thermal unit (BTU), according to a prime ministerial decree published in the Official Gazette. The hike excludes industrial consumers with existing contracts including predefined pricing formulas.

We were expecting a different turn of events after sources told us that the government had been mulling a flexible, phased pricing structure for natural gas across several sectors in a bid to cushion the state from rising energy import bills while maintaining viable margins for the industrial sector. By opting for a fixed hike instead, the state appears to be prioritizing immediate fiscal relief under its IMF program.

REMEMBER- We saw domestic fuel prices rise in early March, which the government attributed to the war-triggered jump in global energy prices.

PSA-

WEATHER- It’s another chilly, windy day in Cairo, with a high of 24°C and a low of 14°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s even chillier in Alexandria, with a high of 20°C and a low of 13°C.

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The big story abroad

US forces will begin guiding vessels stranded in the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz today, President Donald Trump said. With many of these ships running low on provisions, Trump characterized the effort, which he is calling “Project Freedom,” as a “humanitarian gesture,” but offered few concrete details on what this would entail.

Where do US-Iran peace talks stand? Tehran is currently reviewing Washington’s response to its latest peace proposal, a 14-point framework reportedly designed to end hostilities and lift the naval blockade on the Islamic Republic.

Making waves in the business press is US retailer Gamestop, whose CEO Ryan Cohen aims to make an unsolicited bid to acquire eBay for some USD 56 bn. Cohen revealed that GameStop has acquired around 5% of the e-commerce player and is proposing a buyout at USD 125 per share. The proposal, consisting of stock and liquid funds, represents a 20% premium over eBay’s Friday closing price.

Also, are blockbuster comedies back? The Devil Wears Prada 2 raked in USD 233 mn at the box office over its opening weekend, the highest figure for a traditional comedy in 11 years.

*** 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: We’re asking if Egypt’s new AI tutor Sia is going to democratize learning across the country, or just dumb down the next generation.

This strategic collaboration brings together world-class expertise to shape a new waterfront destination, with EHAF overseeing engineering design and project supervision, and Benoy leading the master plan and architectural vision. A significant step forward in Somabay’s continued evolution as a fully integrated coastal destination.

GlobalCorp is back on the block

Anchor investors in homegrown financial services player GlobalCorp are looking to exit the company in a transaction that could see up to 100% of the company change hands, our friend Hatem Samir, the company’s founder and CEO, tells EnterpriseAM.

The transaction is expected to close within two to four months, Samir tells us. The company will open its virtual data room and issue process letters to interested bidders this week, kicking off due diligence, he added, with the final price tag depending entirely on the outcome. An unconfirmed report in the Arabic press claimed the transaction could be in the USD 200 mn (EGP 10.7 bn) range.

Interest is reportedly already running high. The potential sale has drawn interest from more than a half-dozen strategic and financial investors, including multiple international bidders. At least one UAE-based bank was rumored to be circling the firm as recently as last year.

Who’s selling? Sellers include Tunis-headquartered PE firm SPE Capital; Paris-based, Africa-focused fund Amethis; and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development — which together bought a 90% stake valued at EGP 914 mn in 2022. Samir, who held onto a 10% minority during that round, tells us he will likely stay on, though whether he rolls his equity over depends on the buyer.

SOUND SMART- GlobalCorp have built their growth around a high-velocity ownership model — bringing in new shareholders roughly every five years to match the company’s expanding capital appetite. The company offers leasing, factoring, mortgages, and consumer finance.

Another cycle, another exit: “We are looking for serious buyers to partner with to facilitate entry into new markets,” Samir tells us. The sale was always the endgame for the current owners, he says, adding that this would mark the second exit for GlobalCorp since its founding in 2015, following the 2022 departure of Ezdehar and Sanad Fund.

Our take: A strong exit of a high-profile player like GlobalCorp would be a boost not just for Egypt as an investment destination, but for the nation’s burgeoning private equity industry and M&A market, both of which have been enjoying a renaissance of late. Hatem has been a longtime fixture of our stage at the EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum (here and here).

ADVISORS- Dubai-based Arqaam Capital is quarterbacking the transaction, Samir tells us.

Fishing for FDI

Egypt’s aquaculture sector is casting the net towards the Mediterranean and European markets, courting investment pitches from Greece and Algeria for farmed fish imports, a senior government official tells EnterpriseAM. The interest follows the European Union’s approval of imports of Egyptian farmed fish following two years of testing. Cyprus and Turkey are also expected to submit pitches in the coming period, our source adds.

How big is the catch? Foreign investors are eyeing up to 21 immediate FDI prospects across the Red Sea and Mediterranean, out of the total 57 state-identified sites earmarked for large-scale aquaculture and processing. The EU approval instantly unlocks 160k-200k tons in European demand with Egyptian tilapia — which makes up roughly 1.2 mn tons of the country's 1.6 mn tons in total fish output — the prime candidate for first shipments.

The bottleneck? We currently operate only 10 canning and processing factories, well short of what export scale would require.

Why this matters: Securing the European export window provides a much-needed hard-currency lifeline for local fish farms. After years of struggling to cover imported feed on domestic revenues alone — which accounts for 75% of production overhead — producers now have the income margins to scale up production for the European market.

No better timing: The push for exports comes as Egypt reaches 92% self-sufficiency in fish, up from 80% in 2021, head of the Lakes and Fish Resources Protection and Development Agency, Salah Moselhi, tells us. The government successfully “reduced the import volume from 400k tons to 78k tons by the end of 2025,” he adds.

What’s next: First shipments are expected to sail this summer, with a strict export quota in place to protect the local market. “We expect to receive the formal approval in July, and to begin exporting 20 days into the month,” Moselhi tells us, as the decision officially comes into force 20 days after EU ratification. Around 70 farms are already coded and cleared for immediate export, with the rest of the country’s 7k farms entering the EU certification pipeline, our source says.

Shifting gears with new incentives

The wheels are in motion on the state's export subsidy program as the automotive industry is set to receive bumps ranging from 4.5-5.5%. This puts it on par with the support given to the engineering industry, a government official tells EnterpriseAM.

Revving up: The decision — which includes bus and component manufacturing — is expected to unlock significant production capacity and drive a surge in fresh foreign investment interest. Automotive Industry Development Program (AIDP) aims to establish Egypt as a regional vehicle manufacturing hub, with a target of 100k vehicles produced annually and local component content starting at 20% — gradually rising to 60% value-added.

Why this matters: Increasing export revenues is great, but the real value-add here is that the program should require automakers to follow AIDP’s mandate and use a specific ratio of local components when building the cars. This will encourage manufacturers to move beyond just assembling cars — their current MO — to actually building them from the ground up.

The Finance Ministry has earmarked EGP 5.5 bn for the industry’s inclusion in the program for FY 2026/2027, according to budget documents seen by EnterpriseAM. The government also wants to add four new companies to the program to kick off local manufacturing, our source tells us, with several EV makers also in talks with officials about launching export-oriented projects.

MEANWHILE– Long-time program member Volkswagen Group is also preparing to begin contract manufacturing with the Egyptian German Automotive Company plant before embarking on an integrated automotive factory in East Port Said, we’re told.

What’s next? The Engineering Export Council is targeting a 15% annual growth rate for the sector, aiming for USD 13.5 bn in exports by 2030, Chairman Sherif El Sayyad tells us. With February exports already up 30% y-o-y, it seems like we’re on the right track, especially as wartime disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz push the demand for Egyptian exports higher, El Sayyad argues.

When are we going to start exporting smartphones?

Domestic handset assemblers and manufacturers are back in the spotlight after National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) Vice President Amr Abbas testified before the House of Representatives’ Communications Committee.

Abbas was before the microphones after MPs complained about what some called the “unjustified” rise in the retail price of handsets in Egypt. Rep. Maha Abdel Nasser said mobiles are “no longer luxuries,” noting they’re essential for digital services. She’s calling for a review of customs policies that she says are pushing up costs for consumers. Rep. Mirna Aref called for fresh support for smartphone assemblers and manufacturers here, saying the industry could be a source of export proceeds.

We have about 8 mn units per year of unused assembly and manufacturing capacity, it seems. Abbas told MPs that local manufacturers produced c. 10 mn handsets last year, short of the 18 mn unit capacity NTRA thinks is in place. Domestic demand also stands at about 18 mn handsets a year, he said.

The Madbouly government wants to see exports start by next year, Abbas told MPs, and thinks local production could satisfy as much as 90% of demand here at home.

Why it matters: The cabinet wants to slash our tech import bill and force the market to buy local. This production push serves as a direct complement to the government’s recent decision to scrap the personal customs exemption on imported mobile phones.

Local manufacturers argue that to truly lower retail prices and scale up, the government needs to ease regulatory friction. The industry’s success must be measured by value added, while lawmakers are pressuring the Customs Authority to eliminate the 2-5% tariff on production inputs to make the local sector viable, Egyptian Silicon Industries Company Chairman and CEO Mohamed Salem says.

When AI starts acting on behalf of the shopper

For most of e‑commerce’s history, consumers controlled the buying journey. They searched, compared options, paused, abandoned carts, and returned later. Retail strategies were built around those steps — and many still are.

AI is taking on a more active role in how decisions are made. Beyond recommendations, intelligent systems are influencing — and in some cases initiating — purchase decisions. What consumers see, evaluate, and act on is happening earlier and faster in the journey.

Data already reflects this change. Visa’s 2025 Global Digital Shopping Index shows that consumers who browse merchant sites more than once a week make purchases on roughly ten days per month — more than three times the rate of lighter browsers. The distance between intent and transaction is shrinking.

Competition is changing as decision-making becomes more automated. Success depends less on brand visibility or range, and more on whether transactions can be completed seamlessly, securely, and with confidence in real time.

Payments are becoming a core layer of trust in this model. Speed matters, but so do authentication, authorization, and reliability. AI‑driven commerce depends on transactions that complete consistently and securely.

Visa is positioning its structure around this shift. Through initiatives such as Visa Intelligent Commerce, the company is enabling AI‑driven transactions that are fast, personalized, and secure, without introducing additional friction or risk.

The question for businesses is no longer whether AI‑driven commerce will scale. It is whether their systems can operate in an environment where decisions happen earlier, faster, and with less direct human involvement.

Those best positioned will be the ones building systems where experience, security, and trust operate together at scale.

Fresh funding for Edita

Edita Food Industries has lined up fresh funding to expand production capacity, according to a disclosure to the EGX (pdf). The company secured a seven-year, EGP 500 mn medium-term loan from an undisclosed lender to refinance the acquisition and refurbishment of production lines, directly supporting the company’s push to scale up production capacity.

Edita’s second debt agreement in as many months: The EGX-listed snackmaker has been courting lenders to underwrite its expansion plans, having secured an EGP 600 mn loan from Arab Bank Egypt last month to support its EGP 4 bn investment program for the year. The funds will help Edita establish new production lines across Egypt, Morocco, and Iraq.

REMEMBER- The company has been working to expand its footprint beyond Egypt. Earlier this year, it acquired the exclusive rights to the HoHos, Twinkies, and Tiger Tail brands across an additional 45 African countries.

Aging isn’t all in your head

A team from The American University in Cairo, led by Professor Mohamed Salama and Assistant Professor May Bakr, contributed to a major international study on brain aging published in Nature Medicine, according to a press release (pdf).

What’s the study about? The main takeaway is that where you live determines how fast your brain ages. Looking at 18,701 people across 34 countries, the researchers found that the combined weight of environmental, social, and political conditions — pollution, extreme heat, inequality, political instability — was up to 15 times more powerful at predicting brain aging than any single factor. In some cases, the toll was on par with mild cognitive impairment.

Chinese tech giants push local laptop assembly to 2027

Chinese tech brands hitting pause on locally assembled laptops

Honor, Realme, Vivo, and Oppo have pushed back plans to start assembling laptops and tablets in Egypt by a year to 2027 instead of the original 2026 target, the Arabic press reports, citing industry sources. The four Chinese players cited rising production costs of 12-15% tied to a weakening EGP, factory wage hikes of over 5%, higher transportation costs, and weak demand, the sources said.

And then there’s the RAMapocalypse: The change of target, if confirmed, comes at the same time as the price of RAM — a key component in all computing devices — heads past the stratosphere. The price of memory used in laptops, tablets, and smartphones has risen as much as 250% y-o-y thanks to demand from datacenter buildouts globally. Demand is so high that some devicemakers simply cannot get their hands on the chips.

The hesitation doesn’t extend to smartphones. A combined customs and tax charge of 38.5% on phones brought into the country by travelers and levied on commercial imports ensures that locally assembled devices stay price-competitive.

Strike while the oil is hot

Khalda Petroleum is looking to deploy as much as USD 1.0 bn on investment and operations here in FY 2026-2027, according to an Oil Ministry statement. Khalda is a joint venture between US oil producer Apache and the state’s Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.

The ramp-up follows a strong first half of the year: Khalda made 15 oil discoveries in the first half of the fiscal year, adding roughly 15 mn barrels of oil equivalent to its reserves. The company hit 100% of its oil-equivalent production target and exceeded its natural gas target by 7%, after drilling 26 development wells and carrying out 75 recompletion operations.

Going green in Tokyo

Egypt is preparing to issue USD 500 mn in Samurai bonds in the Japanese market this month — or by early June at the latest — as part of its strategy to diversify funding sources and reduce borrowing costs, a government official told the Arabic press. The official said Japanese banks have already been mandated, with procedures kicking off after the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington in April. This will mark Egypt’s third Samurai issuance — and its first under a sustainable finance framework — following USD 500 mn raised in March 2022 and another USD 500 mn in November 2023.

Why it matters: The issuance is part of a broader USD 4 bn international debt program running through FY 2025/2026, which also includes Panda bonds, green bonds, and Eurobonds. The African Development Bank is providing a USD 400 mn partial credit guarantee — covering 80% of the issuance — to help Egypt secure longer tenors and lower borrowing costs by reducing investor risk. Proceeds are expected to be directed toward green and sustainable projects.

EgyptAir’s first 737 Max lands in Cairo

EgyptAir has received its first Boeing 737-8 Max, kicking off an 18-aircraft strategic lease agreement from SMBC Aviation Capital, according to a statement from the flag carrier. EgyptAir says the new jets will cut fuel use and emissions by 20% compared to their predecessors and will serve short- and medium-haul routes including Paris, Brussels, Istanbul, and Vienna.

It looks like the national flag carrier is also about to get a new Airbus A350-900, which AeroSignals said yesterday afternoon was on its way from Tolous-Blagnac to Cairo. The account correctly noted two days ago that the 737-8 Max was on its way to Cairo.

The delivery is part of EgyptAir’s broader fleet modernization push. The carrier said in February it plans to add 12 aircraft this year and scale up to 34 new planes from the Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 737-8 Max families by 2031.

New wind energy and battery storage projects coming to national grid

Expanding our renewables capacity: We’re getting 4.8 GW of new wind energy capacity spread across the Gulf of Suez, Ras Shukeir, Zafarana, and Galala Mountain, as well as 4 GWh of battery energy storage in South Cairo, Damanhour, and Wadi El Natroun over the next two years. The developers behind the projects, which will be financed by the Tahya Misr Fund, have not been revealed.

Bypassing US protectionism

US protectionism is pushing the rest of the world to rewire trade — and the USD 22 tn EU-Mercosur agreement makes that shift concrete. The agreement between the European Union and Mercosur went live provisionally on 1 May, linking 720 mn consumers into the largest freetrade area by population after more than 25 years of negotiations.

The Mercosur agreement will gradually remove tariffs on most industrial and agricultural goods while shielding politically sensitive sectors like beef, poultry, sugar, and fruit. Framed by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as a direct response to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and “a reaffirmation of multilateralism,” the agreement is expected to deliver relatively modest economic gains despite its scale. The next phase of this agreement is likely to show up in investment flows, not just trade volumes.

How? By lowering barriers and aligning rules, it gives European firms a clearer path into South America’s supply chains — especially in areas like mineral processing, where China has long dominated investment. As competition for resources tied to energy and industrial policy intensifies, countries are responding to a more protectionist US stance by deepening ties elsewhere.

Why does it matter? The agreement pulls the EU into that competition, expanding its role from trade partner to long-term investor in mining, processing, and infrastructure. Ongoing talks with India, Indonesia, and Australia reflect a wider effort to stay involved in shaping trade and investment as global rules weaken and countries increasingly turn to region-to-region agreements.

Companies are already positioning around that shift. South American agribusinesses — from beef and fruit to minerals — are looking to expand exports into Europe, while European automakers, pharma firms, and tech companies are targeting growth and investment prospects in Mercosur.

Where the risks lie: The agreement is not fully locked in — Ursula von der Leyen moved to enact it provisionally without full parliamentary approval, triggering a possible court challenge at the EU’s judiciary. If the court rules against it, the agreement could be halted, raising questions over long-term investment flows and the EU’s credibility. Even so, markets like Mercosur are unlikely to fully replace lost trade with Washington, underscoring that this is more about diversification than substitution.

The bottom line: Beyond beef quotas, this is about supply chains, capital allocation, and geopolitical positioning. As US protectionism reshapes global trade, blocs like EU-Mercosur are moving to redirect flows of goods, capital, and influence — if judicial challenges don’t derail it.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

Asia-Pacific markets are up in early trading this morning, led by South Korea’s Kospi, which is up over 3.6%. Japan’s Nikkei is closed today in observance of Greenery Day. Wall Street futures are flat, suggesting a muted start to the week as investors sit tight awaiting the many earnings reports due over the course of the week.

EGX30	52,313	+1.1% (YTD: +25.1%)
USD (CBE)	Buy 53.46	Sell 53.60
USD (CIB)	Buy 53.47	Sell 53.57
Interest rates (CBE)	19.00% deposit	20.00% lending
Tadawul	11,193	+0.1% (YTD: +6.7%)
ADX	9,789	+0.1% (YTD: -2.1%)
DFM	5,767	0.0% (YTD: -4.6%)
S&P 500	7,230	+0.3% (YTD: +5.6%)
FTSE 100	10,364	-0.1% (YTD: +4.4%)
Euro Stoxx 50	5,882	+1.1% (YTD: +1.5%)
Brent crude	USD 108.38	+0.2%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 2.81	1.0%
Gold	USD 4,626	-0.4%
BTC	USD 78,902	+0.3% (YTD: -9.9%)
S&P Egypt Sovereign Bond Index	1,045	+0.1% (YTD: +5.2%)
S&P MENA Bond & Sukuk	151.40	+0.1% (YTD: -0.3%)
VIX (Volatility Index)	16.99	+0.6% (YTD: +13.7%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 1.1% at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 10.5 bn (43.5% above the 90-day average). Local investors were the sole net buyers. The index is up 25.1% YTD.

In the green: Heliopolis Housing (+10.7%), Palm Hills Developments (+9.2%), and ADIB (+6.9%).

In the red: Juhayna (-2.3%), Valmore Holding -EGP (-1.7%), and Eastern Company (-1.6%).

The sovereign AI experiment begins in the classroom

Introducing Karnak and Sia: the country’s first large language model and a personalized AI tutor for high school students. As part of its push toward sovereign AI — the idea that a nation should develop its own AI tailored to its language, culture, and specific institutional know-how — the two projects were launched in early 2026 by the Communications and Information Technology Ministry.

The two are poised to become the country’s first real experiment with natively built AI systems — and education is set to be at the center of this experiment. With Karnak as the foundational infrastructure — trained on Egypt’s history, juridical framework, and cultural values — Sia is an AI tutor that teaches Arabic and history to high school students. Sia is also being rolled out as an assistant to help Egyptians navigate the legislative and regulatory environment and provide guidance to government services.

The case against AI tutoring

Egypt must proceed with extreme caution. We only need to look at Sweden, which is actively pulling screens out of early classrooms and reintroducing physical books to rescue falling literacy rates — after years of heavy digital integration. Even in Egypt, educators are quietly reverting to traditional methods to combat tech overreliance. “The way we evaluate students has gone back to how it was in the past: paper exams,” Engi Amin, social computing lecturer at Cairo University, tells EnterpriseAM.

We already saw the negative impact of digital-only learning during the Covid-19 pandemic pilot experiment. “Even though Covid was only about two years or so, online learning had a significant effect and proved that when something lacks the human experience, or is entirely online, it effectively fails,” Amin explains.

The risks of degrading cognitive power are notable. Putting computers on K-12 desks “may turn out to be among the costliest mistakes in the history of education,” Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University and a prominent critic of screen time, recently warned.

More alarmingly, unchecked AI access destroys the fundamental will to learn. A recent Cairo University study revealed that university students are actively losing critical thinking skills due to automated shortcuts. Amin observes this firsthand, telling us that “students don’t have the incentive to learn anything anymore” and constantly ask themselves “why should I spend time and effort on something that AI is going to do better than me anyway?”

Teachers also may lose the will to teach. “If students prefer AI, it will surpass the teacher’s skills,” Amin notes. “Consequently, teachers will find they have no incentive to explain or to find new ways to teach students.”

Poor public infrastructure is not helping either. “Between hallucinations, infrastructure problems, and connection issues where it keeps dropping, a lot can go wrong,” Amin warns.

The case for AI tutoring

Despite the risks, AI offers an unprecedented window for the “democratization of education” by creating equal learning prospects across all governorates and economic levels. “The concept of AI tutoring — having a tutor that can explain things in your own language and in a way that suits your specific skills — is fantastic,” Amin explains.

AI is a genuine and highly useful teaching tool, which can make learning easier and more accessible, edtech startup Nagwa CEO Ahmed Hindawi tells us. “AI never gets tired. It can provide infinite examples to illustrate a concept until a student truly ‘gets it,’ adapting to the student’s specific rate of progress to build their confidence.” AI provides “a safe space” where students can be honest about what they don’t understand without the embarrassment of peer judgment.

“While AI cannot (and should not) fully replace human teachers, the reality is that we face a global shortage of educators,” Hindawi notes. AI can help directly address this global shortage by handling repetitive explanations, which empowers both the student and the teacher to focus on actual learning.

AI can also save us bns of EGP spent on expensive private tutoring. “While AI has its own operational costs, it is significantly more affordable and scalable than human tutoring,” Hindawi explains. It also serves as a powerful assistant for teachers to create question banks or structure lecture notes, Amin argues.

The solution?

The technology is simply too important to ignore, but it cannot be left to be completely autonomous. To succeed, Egypt must focus on gradual application. “We shouldn’t just drop it in all at once and leave people to [figure it out]; everything must happen gradually,” Amin advises. Simultaneously, the state must expand internet bandwidth to ensure equitable access across every governorate, Hindawi notes.

Educators have no choice but to adapt. Educators are still stumbling through trial and error, but strict limits must be set “so we shouldn’t reach a point where it overtakes us, forcing us to start all over again,” Amin concludes.

CALENDAR

2026

MAY

5 May (Tuesday): S&P Global to release PMI figures for April.

7 May (Thursday): Labor Day national holiday observed.

7 May (Thursday): CBE expected to release foreign exchange reserve data for April.

10 May (Sunday): Capmas expected to release inflation data from April.

21 May (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s third meeting of 2026.

27-29 May (Wednesday-Friday): Eid El Adha (TBC).

JUNE

15 June (Monday): Seventh review of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility.

30 June (Tuesday): National holiday in observance of the June 30 Revolution (TBC).

JULY

9 July (Thursday): Monetary Policy Committee’s fourth meeting of 2026.

23 July (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Revolution Day (TBC).

AUGUST

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

26 August (Wednesday): National holiday in observance of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (TBC).

SEPTEMBER

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.

OCTOBER

6 October (Tuesday): Armed Forces Day.

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

DECEMBER

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

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

Early 2026: Passenger operations on the New Administrative Capital-Nasr City monorail scheduled to begin.

1Q 2026: Trial operations for the Ain Sokhna-Sixth of October section of Egypt’s first high-speed rail line scheduled to begin.

May 2026: End of extension for developers on 15% interest rates for land installment payments.

July 2026: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer set to visit Egypt.

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

2026: The Egyptian-American Economic Forum.

2027

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

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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