Happy almost-Thursday, folks: We have a brisk issue for you to close out what has been quite an eventful month, so let’s get to it.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Deadline day for export subsidy applications: Today is the final day exporters can submit applications for export subsidies under the sixth phase of the government’s subsidy program. The government is expected to pay out EGP 10 bn in overdue subsidies during this phase.

Remember: The government has invited applications in two stages, the first of which closed on11 May. It will pay out subsidies to exporters that applied in the first stage on 5-6 July and the second stage on 19-20 July.

ICYMI- The government plans to quadruple export subsidies in the coming fiscal year, and has allocated EGP 28 bn in its draft budget. The larger allocation is aimed at helping the government reach its target to increase exports to USD 100 bn a year by the middle of the decade.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

First Lady Jill Biden is heading to Egypt as part of a six-day trip to the region that will also take in Jordan, Morocco, and Portugal, the Associated Press reports. The visit will focus on promoting the empowerment of women and young people, while the Egypt leg will also emphasize US investment in education projects and boosting economic potential. The first lady is due to leave the US on Wednesday; a schedule for her regional tour has not been publicly released.

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

There’s speculation about when the IMF could review Egypt’s loan program: The IMF will likely schedule its first review of Egypt’s USD 3 bn loan program for September, economist Ali Metwally reportedly told Al Arabiya yesterday. The review has been delayed to give the Madbouly government more time to comply with the fund’s requirements in light of the current economic challenges, Metwally said. The second review will unlock the second USD 347 mn tranche of the loan.

The program has already been on hold for 2.5 months. The first review was originally supposed to take place in mid-March but was postponed after Egypt fell short on meeting several key conditions of the loan agreement. The IMF is reportedly waiting for authorities to make progress with its privatization program and to make the transition to a fully flexible exchange rate. The government aims to raise USD 2 bn via asset sales by the end of June.

The privatization program so far: The government has this month raised around EGP 4.7 bn (c. USD 153 mn) from selling a 10% stake in Telecom Egypt and 80% of Paint and Chemical Industries (Pachin). This equates to roughly 8% of its end of June target. Looking ahead, the CEO of NI Capital said recently that two sales should be complete before the end of June while there have been rumors in the press about possible bids from Gulf companies for military-owned fuel retailer Wataniya as well as interest intwo of the country’s largest wind farms.

Remember: Authorities are waiting to secure new FX inflows from selling assets before meeting a key IMF condition and moving ahead with an EGP float. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have all pledged to invest bns of USD in Egyptian state-owned assets, which would go a long way to helping the country solve its ongoing FX crunch and allowing it to devalue the currency. Prolonged negotiations are yet to yield results however, with the press reporting that the Gulf countries want to see reform progress before investing.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

The latest on the debt ceiling is leading news in the US press: Budget legislation agreed by Republican and Democratic negotiators earlier this week has cleared a key hurdle in the House, narrowly passing the House Rules Committee despite Republican opposition. The bill will now pass to the House for debate. Lawmakers have until 5 June to sign the legislation into law and prevent the federal government defaulting on its debt. (Associated Press | Reuters | New York Times | Washington Post)

Also making headlines:

• To Nato or not to Nato: The Financial Times leads with news that Western capitals are renewing pressure on Turkey to drop its opposition to Sweden joining Nato.
• Turkish currency hits record low: The top story on Bloomberg is the plight of the TRY, which has fallen to a record low in the wake of Erdogan’s reelection.
• Russia-Ukraine war: The Wall Street Journal has the scoop on a planned US- and Ukraine-led summit aimed at building global support for Kyiv’s terms for ending the war.

MORNING MUST READ-

Create a super intelligent AI and it could be curtains for humanity: More than 350 AI researchers, engineers and executives have signed a letter warning that the rapid development of increasingly sophisticated AI poses a threat to humanity. “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” the statement reads. Among the signatories are Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, Demis Hassabis, the co-founder of Google’s DeepMind, and AI ‘godfather’ Geoffrey Hinton, who recently quit Google to speak publicly about the potential threat of AI.

Too sci-fi for you? Check out Lex Fridman’s recent interview with leading AI researcher Eliezer Yudkowsky who explains why an artificial super intelligence might not be far away — and why we probably don’t want to create something smarter than us (watch, runtime: 3:17:50).

One company that can’t get enough of AI: Nvidia, whose market-leading AI semiconductors yesterday sent its valuation soaring past the USD 1 tn mark. We have more on this in this morning’s Planet Finance, below.

MARKET WATCH-

OPEC+ is meeting on Sunday — and it’s unclear whether we can expect another supply cut: The Saudi- and Russia-led group of oil producers will hold its bimonthly meeting in Vienna on Sunday to decide on output.

Conflicting signals: Russian officials have signaled that countries will keep output at current levels despite the recent downward pressure on oil prices. Recent comments by the Saudi energy minister have raised speculation that the organization could agree to further cut supply after he warned short sellers to “watch out” ahead of the meeting.

Uncertainty puts pressure on oil prices: Oil prices suffered their worst day in almost a month yesterday amid uncertainty about the US debt ceiling agreement and the OPEC+ meeting, Reuters wrote. Brent crude futures fell 4.6% to USD 73.54 a barrel while US crude lost 4.4% to settle at USD 69.46. “The big elephant in the room is the continued drama over the debt ceiling,” one analyst told the newswire. “Until we get the votes, the market is going to be on edge.”

This morning: Oil prices are trading slightly lower this morning, with Brent down 0.2% and US crude 0.3% lower.

FACT CHECK-

British pharma giant AstraZeneca plans to bring its total investment in the Egyptian market to USD 100 mn over the next three years and increase its production capacity by 50%, country president Hatem Werdany told Al Arabiya. We had previously reported that the company would invest over USD 100 mn in the Egyptian market to up production over “the coming years” on the basis of a previous version of Al Arabiya’s story.

ENTERPRISE IS LOOKING FOR SMART, TALENTED PEOPLE of all backgrounds to help us build some very cool new things. Enterprise — the essential morning read on all the important news shaping business and the economy in Egypt and the region — is looking for writers, reporters and editors to help us build out new publications. Today, we run four daily Egypt and MENA-focused publications, five weekly industry verticals, and a weekend lifestyle edition designed to make our readers feel just a bit smarter.

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That said, we’re looking for gifted story-tellers from all walks of life and across all professions, as long as they show a keen interest in learning to write about the stories, topics, businesses, and figures moving markets. Egyptian and foreign nationals alike are welcome to apply. So are job-switchers: If you’re an equities analyst tired of the rat race, we’re a great place to come work.

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*** It’s Hardhat day — your weekly briefing of all things infrastructure in Egypt: Enterprise’s industry vertical focuses each Wednesday on infrastructure, covering everything from energy, water, transportation, and urban development, as well as social infrastructure such as health and education.

In today’s issue: We speak to figures in the telecoms industry about how the devaluation of the EGP and rising inflation are impacting the sector.