Good morning, friends, and welcome to a new month and a new quarter. We’re ringing in 2Q with a brisk issue for you this morning as we enjoy the pre-Eid news slowdown.

** 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.

HAPPENING TOMORROW-

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will be sworn in for his third term tomorrow after he takes the constitutional oath before the House of Representatives at the new administrative capital. Tuesday’s inauguration will also see the presidency begin its move to the new capital, Administrative Capital for Urban Development CEO Khaled Abbas confirmed over the weekend.

What to look out for at the start of El Sisi’s third term:

#1-A cabinet shuffle? El Sisi’s new term is likely to start with some new faces at the helm of some of the country’s ministries and other government bodies.

#2- Ministries gearing up for ambitious targets for El Sisi’s third term: You can check out our deep dives into the targets and the plan to meet them for:

• Infrastructure
• Manufacturing
• Green energy
• Tourism
• Trade and logistics
• Aviation
• Education

NEWS TRIGGERS-

It’s the first day of April — here are the key news triggers to keep your eyes on in this month:

• Inflation: Capmas and the CBE are expected to publish the latest inflation data on Wednesday, 10 April. After February’s inflation data unexpectedly came above analyst forecasts, everyone in the public and private sector will be closely watching to see the impact of the float of the EGP on inflation.
• Foreign reserves: The central bank should release March’s foreign reserves figures this week. After 18 consecutive months of incremental small increases, we’re waiting to see how the reserves will be impacted by the fresh funds from Ras El Hekma agreement, the return of FX liquidity in the official banking system, and the dues paid to clear port backlogs and reduce arrears to international oil firms.
• PMI figures: S&P Global will publish Egypt’s PMI figures for March on Wednesday 3 April. Having fallen to an 11-month low last month on the back of Red Sea disruptions and high inflation, the country’s PMI has been in contraction 39 straight months, but policy makers will be hoping that the end of the FX shortage, the death of the parallel market, and the clearing of port backlogs may put the private sector on a new trajectory.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- El Sisi wants more private sector involvement in the healthcare sector ASAP: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi called for the swift completion of the required legislative steps to facilitate the participation of the private sector in the country’s healthcare sector, the president said during a meeting on Sunday, according to an Ittihadiya statement. The meeting saw El Sisi follow up on government efforts to increase private sector investments in the sector, the statement read.

#2- Egypt to receive EUR 1 bn of its EU package before the summer: The European Union is looking to deliver the first tranche of the bloc’s pledged EUR 5 bn of concessional loans as part its EUR 7.4 bn package to Egypt before next summer, EU Ambassador to Cairo Christian Berger told AsharqBusiness.

ICYMI- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is planning to expedite the delivery of this first tranche through an emergency funding mechanism to “make sure that a first significant contribution” reaches Egypt by the end of 2024.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Deadline for international energy companies: International oil and gas companies have until midday today CLT to bid for exploration licenses for 23 blocks offered up by the Oil Ministry in September.

What’s up for grabs: The ministry is offering ten blocks in the Western Desert, seven in the Gulf of Suez, four in the Red Sea, and two in the Eastern Desert. The foreign companies will work with either the state-owned Egyptian South Valley Petroleum Holding Company (Ganope) or the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) to explore for new hydrocarbons in the blocks. Firms can bid for exploration licenses of up to seven years and will be granted 20-year extendable development leases if they make a discovery.

ICYMI- Egypt needs new discoveries to meet its ambitious targets to double oil and gas exports to USD 36 bn and become a regional electricity hub by doubling its daily electricity exports to 1.5 GW by the end of President El Sisi’s third term in 2030.

So, when do we eat? Maghrib prayers are at 6:14 pm in the capital city, and you’ll have until 4:15 am tomorrow to hydrate and caffeinate ahead of fajr.

WEATHER- Make sure you have sunscreen on hand: The sun is out in Cairo today, with a high of 31°C and a low of 19°C, according to our favorite weather app.

It’s a little cooler in Alexandria, with a high of 25°C and a low of 16°C.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The EU-Egypt Investment Conference is now penciled in for June, EU Ambassador to Cairo Christian Berger told Asharq Business. The conference, originally scheduled for May, is expected to bring together some 450 European companies, Berger added.

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

ICYMI- Missed this week’s Inside Industry? In our weekly vertical exploring all things industry and manufacturing, we looked at how electronics firms are now moving again to locally produce smartphones. Read the full story here.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

It’s an achingly slow morning for news around the world — not surprising given today is a holiday in much of the western world (Easter Monday) and that our part of the world is sliding into the final days of Ramadan.

UP FIRST- Is there still a chance the US might convince Israel to back off an invasion of Rafah? Conditions in the enclave continue to worsen as the US and Israel prepare for what Axios says in an exclusive will be “a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss the Biden administration's alternative proposals to an Israeli military invasion of Rafah.”

There’s no word on what the “alternative” might be for Gaza, where famine is imminent.

AND- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is on course for his biggest electoral setback in nearly two decades as voters in municipal elections reject his AKP. Opposition mayors look set to cruise to victory in the nation’s five largest cities: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Bursa and Antalya. The story is everywhere from the Reuters to the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Looking ahead: Kuwaiti voters go to the polls on Thursday to elect a new parliament.

SIGN OF THE TIMES- Enter the AI hypebeast: AI is having something of a crypto moment, the head of Google’s AI research division tells the Financial Times. The bns of USD pouring into generative AI startups “brings with it a whole attendant bunch of hype and maybe some grifting and some other things that you see in other hyped-up areas, crypto or whatever. … In a way, AI’s not hyped enough but in some senses it’s too hyped. We’re talking about all sorts of things that are just not real.” Read: Huge AI funding leads to hype and ‘grifting’, warns DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis.

FINALLY- Tesla’s latest challenger? It’s made by smartphone maker Xiaomi:

China’s Xiaomi has succeeded where Apple failed, becoming the first smartphone giant to make an EV. The SU7, introduced over the weekend, is a challenger to Tesla that takes a lot of its styling cues from Porsche — and that starts at USD 4k less than Tesla’s Model 3 with longer, 700-km range for the standard model. Check out the launch announcement here.

It looks like the SU7 will be a hit in China’s hypercompetitive EV market: Customers lined up for test drives until 3am on launch day, Car News China reports, and the 2024 production run sold out in just 24 hours — some 120k units were ordered in the first day and a half it was on sale, one report suggests. Xiaomi is also said to be readying a mid-to-large size electric SUV for introduction later this year.

Want to go deeper? Telescope, the best English-language channel on China’s crazy-wonderful car market, has a solid first look. His take? Very positive, but he’d love it if Xiaomi were to stop imitating Porsche and develop its automotive design language (watch, runtime; 11:12).

*** 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 sit down with edtech startup Sprints’ co-founder and CEO Ayman Bazaraa to learn more about the origin story of the company, the approaches it takes to make its students employable, and the uses it makes of artificial intelligence to transform the learning experience.