Business activity sees “softer but still-solid deterioration” in March

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What We're Tracking Today

Egypt to resume rolling blackouts after Eid

Good morning, wonderful people. The news flow has picked up this morning as we wrap up the last full workweek of Ramadan and begin our countdown for the Eid break.

PSA-The public sector is getting six days off for Eid: Public sector employees will be off from Tuesday, 9 April until Sunday, 14 April in observance of Eid Al Fitr, according to a cabinet statement. We’re now waiting for the Labor Ministry, the Central Bank of Egypt, and the EGX to follow suit with their own announcements.

** DID YOU KNOW that we now cover Saudi Arabia and the UAE?

** Were you forwarded this email?Tap or click here to get your own copy delivered every weekday before 7am Cairo time — without charge.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1-Blackouts to return after Eid: The power outages will return after Eid Al Fitr break and lights will once again go out for two hours a day, a source at the electricity sector told Enterprise. The source attributed the decision to continue the rolling blackouts to cost increases following the float of the EGP and as a means of avoiding depleting our natural gas reserves ahead of the more energy-intensive summer months.

The plan to bring back 24/7 power: There’s no specific date penciled in for when the country will finally say goodbye to blackouts, our source tells us, adding that “we hope to proceed with a plan to reduce the duration of the electricity cuts, then gradually end blackouts alongside an increase in natural gas supplies.”

Mazut imports may be in the cards in the event of severe heat waves and an increase in demand, the source told us.

#2- A floating EGP means a pricier renewables bill: After last month’s float of the EGP, the Electricity Ministry’s monthly bill for wind and solar energy purchased through USD-priced power purchase agreements increased by EGP 700 mn to EGP 2 bn, Asharq Business reports, citing an unnamed government official.

#3- The Planning Ministry has updated how it calculates private investments: The Planning Ministry announced it has overhauled its method used to calculate private investments to provide more accurate data and a more detailed sector-by-sector breakdown, according to a statement from the ministry.

By the numbers: Under the new methodology, private sector investment in the last fiscal year is now estimated to represent 36.4% of total investment with EGP 499 bn, up from a previous estimation of 25.5% or EGP 299 bn. The new methodology also places private sector investment for the first quarter of the current fiscal year at EGP 154 bn, up from EGP 114 bn, and increases forecasts for private investment for the entire fiscal year to EGP 600 bn.

Remember: The state ownership policy aims to more than double the private sector’s role in the economy to 65% by 2026.

FX WATCH-

Foreign appetite for Egyptian debt is on the rise: Foreign investors have poured USD 17.8 bn into Egyptian government debt in the first quarter of 2024, Egyptian Central Securities Depository CEO Yasser Zaazaa told Al Arabiya (watch,runtime ; 5:07). When taking into account the USD 5.6 bn of debt that foreign investors sold during the period, net purchases of Egyptian debt came in at USD 12.2 bn for the period.

Thank the float: After having only made up 10% of the market in January and 9% in February, foreign investments now make up 25% of the total market capitalization following the float of the EGP, Zaazaa said.

Remember: Short-term local debt has been extremely attractive to both local and foreign investors since the central bank floated the EGP, with the central bank’s many t-bills auctions post float being met with high demand.

DATA POINT-

MENA startup investments fell 62% y-o-y in 1Q 2024, clocking in at USD 429 mn for the period, according to Wamda’s monthly startup report. Egypt startups raised only USD 34.6 mn or just over 8% of the region’s startup investments during the quarter.

WEATHER- It’s going to be another sunny day in Cairo, with a high of 31°C and a low of 17°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s going to be slightly cooler in Alexandria, with a high of 27°C and a low of 16°C.

And over the weekend, expect to see highs between 28-30°C in the capital and 23°C for our friends on the Mediterranean.

** So, when do we eat? Maghrib prayers are at 6:16 pm in the capital city, and you’ll have until 4:10 am tomorrow to hydrate and caffeinate ahead of fajr.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

The scramble to make sense of (and money with) generative AI dominates headlines on an otherwise quiet morning in the global business press. Here’s what you need to know:

Google may choose to charge for AI-powered search. It would be the first time the group’s core search product goes behind a paywall.
How one tech skeptic decided AI might benefit the middle class. Part of his answer: It’s going to help some of the less skilled knowledge workers do better work — without replacing them
Will AI boost productivity? Companies sure hope so, but it’s unclear whether the impact of AI is already showing up in US productivity data.

Paid ChatGPT customers can now use AI to edit DALL-E images and add elements or change-up the style.

SIGN OF THE TIMES- Men at Goldman Sachs’ primary UK unit make 54% more than women — and the gap has widened in the past 12 months, the FT writes. Expect the story to have legs: GS is publishing its gender pay gap report today.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Cairo will host the first ever MENA edition of the Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Conference (DSC), according to a statement (pdf). The conference, scheduled for 18-20 April, will bring together over 5k data and AI professionals.

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

Somabay set to make a splash again with World Aquatics triple event extravaganza: Somabay is hosting the World Aquatics series for the second year, featuring three events in March, May, and August. The series includes the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup 2024, World Aquatics Elite Beach Water Polo World Cup 2024, and the World Aquatics Under 18 Beach Water Polo Cup 2024.

Egypt’s foreign reserves jump above USD 40 bn thanks to Ras El Hekma

FX inflows push net foreign reserves to highest level in two years: Net foreign reserves rose by over USD 5 bn to their highest level since Russia’s war on Ukraine triggered the flight of hot money from EMs back in February 2022. Reserves increased to USD 40.36 bn at the end of March, compared to USD 35.31 in February, according to central bank figures.

No surprise: In late February the first tranche of USD 15 bn from the Ras El Hekma agreement arrived in the nation’s coffers — USD 10 bn were fresh inflows and USD 5 bn were in the form of a previous UAE deposit at the CBE. This was shortly followed by the central bank floating the EGP and hiking rates by 600 bps which helped FX liquidity return to the official banking system.

Money in, money out: With inflows picking up, the central bank was quick to pay dues to clear port backlogs and reduce arrears to international oil firms.

The rise should continue: Egypt has a whole lot of funds coming in over the next few months. We’re getting the first USD 820 mn tranche of the IMF USD 8 bn package this week and another USD 820 mn in June and EUR 1 bn from the EU EUR 7.4 bn package before the summer. Egypt is also due to receive the second tranche of USD 20 bn from the Ras El Hekma agreement in May.

Also helping: Short-term local debt has been extremely attractive to both local and foreign investors since the float — foreign investors have poured USD 17.8 bn into government debt in the first quarter of 2024.

All in all, we lined up a total of USD 57 bn of finance over the past few weeks, which will trickle in over a period of years as we meet reform milestones or as investments reach financial close.

Remember: Egypt’s reserves took a hit in 2022 when the double-blow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and tightening global financial conditions triggered capital flight from emerging markets. While Egypt’s reserves lost almost USD 8 bn in the six months between February and August 2022, they have been able to recoup only a mere USD 2 bn as of February.

Egypt’s PMI records “softer but still-solid deterioration” in March

Business activity was more or less unfazed by bigger IMF package, wave of reforms in March: Egypt’s non-oil private sector activity saw a “softer but still-solid deterioration” in March due to persistent currency challenges and elevated inflationary pressures, according to S&P Global’s Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index (pdf).

Forty months in contraction: The index inched up to 47.6 in March, up from 47.1 in February, marking the fortieth consecutive month that Egypt’s PMI sat below the 50.0 threshold that separates growth from contraction.

We had reason to believe things would turn around in March: We had hoped that the end of the FX shortage, death of the parallel market, and clearing of port backlogs — all stemming from the float of the EGP — may put the private sector on a new trajectory. Over the past couple of weeks Egypt also secured an expanded IMF package, a USD 35 bn investment from the Gulf and funds from the EU and the World Bank — some of these funds have started trickling in and some are due over the coming weeks and months.

S&P was also hopeful the wave of reforms would bear fruit: “It was also hoped that the central bank's intervention in early-March, consisting of an emergency 600 basis points interest rate hike and the floating of the [EGP], would start to reverse the damage,” S&P Senior Economist David Owen wrote. And although survey data show that inflation has slowed to a three-month low, “firms are still lacking confidence that activity will grow over the year ahead, suggesting that economic risks may take more time to disappear,” Owen added.

Businesses have less faith in the economy: Sentiment towards future activity fell to its “weakest level recorded in the series history” on the back of concerns that “economic conditions will remain depressed and bring sales down further.” Although, firms have remained positive about the coming 12 months.

New order volumes and business activity dropped “markedly” as elevated inflationary pressures, FX challenges, and price uncertainty continued to lead to a drop in client spending.

Red Sea shipping disruptions remained a problem: Shipping issues contributed to material shortages causing a decline in vendor performance.

On the bright side: New export orders rose for the first time since December 2022 thanks to stronger foreign demand. Businesses also raised their staffing for the first time in 2024, which helped to offset a reduction in February and ease the levels of backlogged work for the first time since June.

ELSEWHERE IN THE REGION: Saudi Arabia and the UAE remained in expansion albeit at a softer pace, amid supply constraints and Red Sea shipping disruption. We dove into the details of the two countries’ non-oil business performance for March in Wednesday’s Enterprise Logistics.

News received attention from Reuters.

Egyptian Drug Authority mulls proposals for new price controls on pharma products

Pharma industry sets the wheels in motion on potential price hikes: The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) is studying a number of requests and proposals for new med pricing schemes put forward by local pharma companies, Al Arabiya reports, citing the head of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce’s pharma division Ali Auf.

Remember: Auf had told us last month that the pharma sector wants to hike prices by 38%, which will reflect the USD / EGP exchange rate moving from 31 pre float to close to 50 post float.

Mandatory pricing scheme? A Health Ministry decree issued in 2012 enforces a pricing system that sees the Central Administration of Pharma Affairs (CAPA) referring to meds pricing in other countries and set local prices at the lowest end of the range at which it is sold abroad. These prices are set for a five-year period, but can be renewed if official FX rates fluctuate 15% or more within one year, or if a company presents an official request to reprice its products by up to 5% annually.

The proposals: Pharma players have come forward with three proposals to change up the med pricing scheme, according to unnamed industry sources cited by the news outlet.

#1- Price hikes for all meds: Raising the prices of all meds on the market by 30-40% over the course of a year in four equal phases.

#2- Hikes for select meds: Bumping up the prices of only 3k meds by 30-80% while keeping the prices of the remaining products unchanged.

#3- Middle ground: Raising the prices of 1.5k products — almost 10% of the meds offered in Egypt — by 25-30% in three equal stages.

The third scenario is looking the most likely to be approved by the EDA, seeing as it strikes a balance between affordability for patients and profitability for companies, Auf said. This scenario is unlikely to burden patients, he said, as there will be affordable alternatives to every product subject to price increases. The price hikes will also help companies continue to produce other products, he added.

It’s been a long time coming: Contested by local companies for years, the mandatory pricing scheme was the most-cited area of concern among industry players we spoke to back in 2022 about the changes that could help the industry grow.

We’re looking at months before we see any change in prices: Auf expects the EDA to spend at least two months looking into proposals before presenting them to the cabinet for approval. Implementation could then take another four to six months, he said.

Egypt’s cabinet approves regs for Building Reconciliation Act

Ministers had a busy cabinet meeting yesterday: The Madbouly cabinet yesterday greenlit a raft of decisions in their weekly meeting. Among the most notable are:

#1- Inching closer to the executive regs for building reconciliation: The ministers approved the executive regulations for the new Building Reconciliation Act. The long-awaited law is set to make it easier for owners of unauthorized buildings built until 15 October 2023 to legalize their properties in return for paying a reconciliation fee, and to set a clear procedure for the process.

We have been waiting for weeks now: Justice Minister Omar Marwan had said that the regulations will be out no later than 22 February, but the date came and went with no updates. The cabinet didn’t provide a date for when we can expect the regulations, but said that they will come in effect 30 days after they are published.

Remember: The law was ratified in December and ever since thousands of violators had their ration cards revoked and a number of those working in related government units have been dismissed from their jobs.

** We dove into the ins and outs of the new act in a Hardhat last year.

#2- New subsidized loan program gets the greenlight: The cabinet also approved the new EGP 120 bn program of subsidized loans for manufacturers in freezones as well as agriculture and renewable energy companies — which offers financing at an interest rate of 15%. Finance Minister Mohamed Maait unveiled the program earlier this week.

#3- Competition Act executive regs amended: The cabinet approved amendments to executive regulations of the Competition Act, which will add a section on economic concentration. Under the amendments, the Egyptian Competition Authority will be responsible for evaluating economic concentrations’ impacts on the competitive landscape and intervene if necessary.

SOUND SMART- Economic concentration refers to a market where a small number of firms control a large share of the industry.

#4- Amendments to importers registry regulations: The Madbouly cabinet also approved amendments to the law regulating the importers registry with the aim of facilitating the registration process for importers. The amendments include allowing companies with FX capital to pay the registration fee in FX, allowing companies to re-register after undergoing changes, and allowing heirs of sole proprietorship to re-register it within a year of the original owner's death. The amendments also cover the settlement of registry-related cases in exchange for a fine.

THE CABINET ALSO APPROVED-

Finalizing the contracts for the 500-MW Gulf of Suez wind farm.
Financial aid for hospitality workers: The Manpower Ministry to tap into its emergency fund to disburse six months’ of salaries to hotel staff working in areas impacted by the war on Gaza — Taba, Nuweiba, and Dahab.
Small legal claims: A draft law to issue a law regulating the litigation process for small legal claims.

Egyptian generosity this Ramadan has caught the attention of the international press

Giving credit where credit is due: Despite soaring food costs, Egyptian charities are continuing to hand out meals to the less fortunate this Ramadan, Reuters writes. A family-run charity told the newswire that “every year it’s becoming more expensive with the current conditions, we don’t know where we’re heading, but we intend to continue.”

Egyptian tobacco distributors can hike prices by up to 12%

RETAIL-

Gov’t greenlights cigarette price hike: Tobacco distributors got the government’s approval to hike prices by up to 12%, according to a document seen by Enterprise. State-owned tobacco giant Eastern Company said it will raise its prices by a lot less than the 12% cap, the company’s CEO Hany Aman told Asharq Business.

Remember: Tobacco distributor Al Mansour International Distribution Company, Philip Morris, and Eastern Company all hiked their prices earlier this year.

INVESTMENT-

#1- Post for Investment has a new asset management arm in the works: Egypt Post’s investment arm Post for Investment (PFI) will launch a new asset management company dubbed PFI Asset Management focused on stocks, fixed-income securities, and specialized funds in Egypt, PFI managing director and CEO Ahmed Ali Abdelrahman told Asharq Business. The company aims to manage EGP 5 bn-worth of assets within a year of launching, Abdelrahman added.

What’s next? The company has already received initial approval for obtaining a license and is expecting to receive the final greenlight this quarter.

** We sat down with Abdelrahamn last month for a special Ramadan edition of My Morning Routine. Check it out here.

#2- Al Gaweesh Group absorbs subsidiaries: Homegrown investment company Al Gaweesh Group subsidiaries Green Modeling Contracting, LARZ Developments, Green Modelling Power Solutions, Integrated Solutions Consultancy, Kreemers, POV, and Marble will now be consolidated under the Al Gaweesh Group name, the group said in a statement (pdf).

FINTECH-

Halan upgrades app: Halan, the consumer finance arm of MNT-Halan, has added new features to its “financial superapp,” including giving users access to potential investments such as gold purchases, the company said in a statement (pdf).

Traders don’t know why gold is on a tear

Gold hit another record high yesterday, hitting USD 2,299.70 in after-hours trading after the US Federal Reserve signaled it would still probably push ahead with rate cuts later this year.

But longtime market watchers are finding it hard to interpret what drove a 7% gain in the past 10 days or so, the Financial Times writes.

“The quietest, most confusing rally”: Pundits the FT spoke with say none of the factors that have driven the metal’s bull run in the past year and a half are in play now. “Those include record levels of central bank buying, Chinese households looking for havens for their money or the war in Ukraine and the Middle East.”

So, what could it be? There’s absolutely no consensus. Possibilities include:

A move into gold as a hedge against volatility (tense elections around the world this year, Chinese rhetoric on Taiwan, uncertainty about the regional banking industry in the US);
Momentum traders piling into the asset class as it continued to climb;
Retail “stealth buyers,” whose transactions are more difficult to track (think: heavy retail demand in countries like China and Egypt).

So is gold going to tumble? It’s a split decision. Some pundits worry that if they don’t understand what’s driving the market, it’s a sign we’re due for a correction. A Standard Chartered analyst, on the other hand, says, “It does look like we have new [durable] appetite in the gold market. There are too many unknown events that investors want to hedge for,” she said, citing elections, risks of conflict escalation or the return of a banking crisis.

INTEREST RATE WATCH-

Rate watchers on both sides of the Atlantic were reading the sheep’s entrails yesterday, parsing Eurozone inflation data and Fedspeak for signs of when we might see rate cuts in advanced economies.

In Europe: Inflation is expected to fall 0.2 percentage points to 2.4% in March on average across the Eurozone, according to preliminary estimates released yesterday by the EU statistics agency Eurostat. Falling inflation will bolster expectations that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates as early as June, but not at next week’s meeting.

In Amreeka: Jay Powell says “it is too soon to say whether the recent [inflation] readings represent more than just a bump. We do not expect that it will be appropriate to lower our policy rate until we have greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably down toward 2%.” We should see rate cuts this year, the commentocracy thinks, but it’s anyone’s guess when.

THE MARKETS THIS MORNING-

The Kospi and Nikkei are both up in early trading this morning, but markets are closed in Shanghai and Hong Kong as China observes the Qingming festival. It’s also a national holiday in Taiwan. US and European futures inched higher overnight. The Dow has edged downward in the last three trading sessions, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 inched up yesterday.

Sound smart: The Qingming festival is sometimes called the “tomb-sweeping festival” in the Western press. Families get together to spruce up their ancestors’ graves and will traditionally leave commemorative offerings including incense sticks, flowers, folder paper creations, and food.

EGX30	27,937	0.0% (YTD: +12.2%)
USD (CBE)	Buy 47.33	Sell 47.47
USD (CIB)	Buy 47.36	Sell 47.46
Interest rates CBE	27.25% deposit	28.25% lending
Tadawul	12,622	+1.2% (YTD: +5.5%)
ADX	9,209	-0.5% (YTD: -3.9%)
DFM	4,240	-0.7% (YTD: +4.4%)
S&P 500	5,211	+0.1% (YTD: +9.3%)
FTSE 100	7,937	0.0% (YTD: +2.6%)
Euro Stoxx 50	5,069	+0.5% (YTD: +12.1%)
Brent crude	USD 89.35	+0.5%
Natural gas (Nymex)	USD 1.84	+0.1%
Gold	USD 2,3001	0.0%
BTC	USD 65,984	+0.3% (YTD: +56.2%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 was essentially flat at yesterday’s close on turnover of EGP 2.2 bn (56.1% below the 90-day average). Regional investors were net sellers. The index is up 12.2% YTD.

In the green: Elsewedy Electric (+6.4%), Orascom Development Egypt (+3.7%), and Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals (+2.2%).

In the red: Mopco (-4.9%), Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (-3.7%), and Eastern Company (-3.4%).

My Ramadan Routine: Abir Leheta, CEO of Egytrans

Abir Leheta, CEO of Egytrans: For a special Ramadan edition of our weekly My Morning Routine column that we are running through the holy month, we spoke to Abir Leheta (LinkedIn), CEO of Egytrans. We asked Leheta the usual questions to find out how a successful member of the community starts their day and threw in a few more to find out how she adjusts to Ramadan and what she looks forward to in the holy month.

My name is Abir Leheta, I’m the CEO of the Egyptian Transport and Commercial Services Company (Egytrans) and a mother to two daughters aged 18 and 23. My family has a long legacy of working in transport and logistics and Egytrans was established 50 years ago by my father, who really had a vision that the sector could be an engine to transform and facilitate business and bring in income for the economy. Today, Egytrans is an EGX-listed company in which the family still holds a minority stake.

At Egytrans’ core is freight forwarding, but we also do project logistics and work on major infrastructure projects that require heavy lifting, engineering studies, and specialized equipment, such as transporting the Siemens power plants in 2016 and 2017. Recently, Egytrans has been focusing on the renewable energy sector and has transported over 90% of the wind farms that have been built in Egypt in the past 20 years.

I studied computer science at university and didn’t initially intend to work for the family company, but my graduation coincided with the beginning of Egytrans automating its operations, leading me to work in software development. Since then, I’ve spent my career at Egytrans working within many different departments from quality and strategy to organizational development — and in 2015, I was asked to become the CEO of the company.

As CEO, my responsibilities lie within working with the executive team and board to set Egytrans’ strategy and make sure that everyone in the company is working towards that. I also focus on internal and external communication, networking, and developing the business as well as organizational development and improvement — how we can adopt new technologies, streamline our processes, or improve employee engagement.

Transport and logistics is a vibrant, changing sector with no single trend: As one of the more emission-intensive industries, I think we’ll definitely see a lot of focus on the reduction of carbon emissions moving forward, with firms considering the introduction of electric vehicles and studying the potential use of biofuels and hydrogen as energy sources. Technology will also play an increasing role in the sector, whether in the creation of digital marketplaces or the use of AI to optimize fleet operations and route planning.

Up next? Egytrans is in the process of merging with the National Transport and Overseas Services Company (NOSCO), which was approved last year. Although we acquired the company, I view it as a merger as we’re setting up new management and structures. NOSCO also focuses on land transport and project logistics, so there are many synergies between us and we are working on diversification and new investments.

Saudi expansion: We’re taking our first steps to grow regionally and are in the process of entering the Saudi market by establishing a new entity, a process that should be finished soon. Even if we are a local company, we really see ourselves becoming a regional leader and competing with the big multinational transport and logistics companies.

Sleep is sacred: My day starts between 6:30-7am, depending on how much sleep I got that night — I prioritize eight hours. I generally get up and spend time meditating, eat my breakfast, drink coffee, and then walk in the sun and do some reading. I love to walk and if I had the time, I would probably walk for hours.

My routine stays pretty much the same during Ramadan, except of course breakfast and coffee. I really love Ramadan, I tend to be more focused, awake, and productive, and it's a month to focus on work, people, and some spiritual time. During the day I often work all the way up to iftar, after which my ideal evening would be to eat some food around 10pm and then sleep from 11pm until the morning. I’m not someone who wakes up in the middle of the night to eat as it disrupts me, but then there’s a lot of social and business events that happen during Ramadan, so I don’t always manage to follow that routine.

The work week: Work begins around 9:30-10am and I divide my days between working at the office and from home where I tend to have less interruptions. I tend to collect all my meetings into two or three days during the week and work from home for tasks that require more focus. The work day comes to a close around 5-6pm.

The one constant in my day is spending time with my daughters: Even if it’s just for half an hour, we share our days and our challenges, or just have a laugh. During Ramadan, we are each following our own schedules, so iftar serves as one time we can all sit at the dining table and have one meal together.

Health and family are my personal priorities: Personally, I want to give a little bit more time and focus to aging well, my health, energy, mobility, and all the different things that allow us to lead a vibrant life, as well as supporting my daughters’ growth as they start on their own lives.

Reading and walking: I’m an audiobook addict and tend to listen to something light and entertaining as I walk in the afternoon or evening. I prefer to read business or self-development books in print so that I can mark things and make notes. I read Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen ten or eleven years ago and probably wouldn’t have been able to handle my work without it.

The best piece of advice I’ve received is a Quranic verse from Al-Baqarah that translates as “perhaps you dislike something which is good for you and like something which is bad for you. God knows and you do not know.” I think this idea really helps me to keep an even keel and not be reactive in a crisis.

CALENDAR

2024

APRIL

9-14 April (Tuesday-Sunday): Eid Al Fitr holiday.

15-21 April (Monday-Sunday): The IMF / World Bank Spring Meetings.

25 April (Thursday): National holiday in observance of Sinai Liberation Day (TBC) (national holiday).

26 April (Wednesday): Clocks move forward one hour at midnight as daylight saving time starts.

28 April (Sunday): Grace period to ins. brokerage firms to comply with Law 215 for 2023 expires.

28-29 April (Sunday-Monday): Saudi Arabia hosts a World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting on ‘global collaboration, growth, and energy.’

29 April (Monday): The government’s car export scheme expires.

MAY

1 May (Wednesday): National holiday in observance of Labor Day (TBC) (national holiday).

2-5 May (Thursday-Sunday): Townhall Expo in Riyadh.

5 May (Sunday): Coptic Easter.

6 May (Monday): Sham El Nessim (national holiday).

20 May (Monday): Malaysian Palm Oil Forum in Cairo, with attendance from Malaysian Plantation and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani.

23 May (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

29 May (Wednesday): Virtual launch of Chicago Booth Executive Program.

JUNE

15-19 June (Saturday-Wednesday): Eid El Adha (TBC) (national holiday).

29 June (Saturday): EU-Egypt Investment Conference.

30 June (Sunday): June 30 Revolution Day (national holiday).

JULY

7 July (Sunday): National holiday in observance of Islamic New Year (TBC).

18 July (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

23 July (Tuesday): Revolution Day (national holiday).

SEPTEMBER

2-5 September (Monday-Thursday): Egypt International Airshow, El Alamein International Airport.

5 September (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

15 September (Sunday): National holiday in observance of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (TBC).

25-26 September (Wednesday - Thursday): The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) 2024 annual meeting, Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

OCTOBER

6 October (Sunday): Armed Forces Day.

17 October (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

21-27 October (Monday-Sunday): The World Bank and IMF annual meetings.

NOVEMBER

21 November (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

DECEMBER

26 December (Thursday): Central Bank of Egypt’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

April 2024: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will visit Turkey.

1Q 2024: Egyptian-Qatari Joint Supreme Committee.

1Q 2024: Opening of the newly developed Pyramids Plateau in Giza.

1Q 2024: The government is set to finalize the sale of the Gabal El Zeit wind farm.

February-May: The Grand Egyptian Museum could officially open to visitors.

March 2024: The USD 2.7 bn MIDOR Refinery is set to begin full operations.

May 2024: Egypt to receive USD 20 bn of Ras El Hekma funds.

May 2024: Arab Finance Ministers’ meeting at Egypt’s administrative capital.

June 2024: Gov’t expects to finalize sale of Beni Suef combined-cycle power plant.

1H 2024: Gov’t expects to finalize sale of four water desalination plants.

2H 2024: Gov’t to launch the Cairo Ring Road BRT buses.

November 2024: Egypt to host the World Urban Forum (WUF12).

End of 2024: The launch of the high-speed train line linking Ain Sokhna with Al Alamein City.

2025

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

2Q 2025: Safaga Terminal 2 to start operations.

2027

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

EVENTS WITH NO SET DATE

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

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