Good morning, friends, and happy Friday. We hope you have a restful weekend ahead of a shortened workweek: As you know, next Thursday is a national holiday in observance of the Islamic New Year.

You might be — like us — saving your next beach trip for the long weekend next week and spending this week indoors with some video games. So today, in our guide, we recommend a few of our favorite games that are now on a hot summer sale.

Enterprise Weekend comes out each Friday at 9:00am CLT. We’ll be back on Sunday at 6am with EnterpriseAM Egypt. Until then: Enjoy the weekend.

LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS-

CABINET WATCH-

Meet Egypt’s new cabinet: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi swore in close to 20 new faces that are set to take over Egypt’s ministries on Wednesday.

Some big names are keeping their positions: Among those that retained their ministries is Rania Al Mashat, who will be back with a larger remit and hold the portfolios of the Planning and Economic Development Ministry along with the International Cooperation Ministry, and Kamel El Wazir, who will be likewise taking over the some of the responsibilities of the Industry Ministry in addition to the Transport Ministry.

Ahmed Kouchouk is now heading the Finance Ministry, replacing Mohamed Maait, who had the ministry since 2018. Kouchouk served as the vice minister of finance for fiscal policies and institutional reforms for over eight years, during which he played an important role in the IMF negotiations.

The Investment Ministry is back: The new cabinet will include the long-shelved Investment and Foreign Trade Ministry — a move that aligns with state efforts to boost FDI and FX inflows. The newly revived ministry will be headed by Hassan El Khatib, who has had a 35-year career that saw him work in a number of investment banks.

Foreign affairs veteran Sameh Shoukry is out: The new government will see Badr Abdelatty replace outgoing Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and outgoing Immigration Minister Soha Gendi as Abdelatty takes over the responsibilities of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and Immigration Ministry. Abdelatty is no stranger to diplomacy, having held a number of diplomatic roles that included serving as Egypt’s ambassador to Germany and Egypt’s ambassador to the EU.

Click here for the full rundown on the new cabinet members.

INVESTMENT-

A flurry of fresh agreements with our EU partners: European firms inked a whole lot of agreements with their Egyptian counterparts during the two-day Egypt-EU Investment Conference that wrapped up on Sunday. Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said that 29 agreements and MoUs had been signed over the event totalling EUR 49 bn with EU-affiliated entities. On top of this, a further six agreements and MoUs with non-EU-affiliated entities that export to the EU inked a further EUR 18.7 bn.

TL;DR: The agreements include a large number of green hydrogen and green ammonia projects, including an EUR 24 bn facility in Garbout courtesy of the Belgian energy firm DEME Group. They also include agreements in the manufacturing, water, and communications sphere.

Click here to get the full rundown on the agreements signed during the conference.

REAL ESTATE-

TMG announces its first venture into the North Coast: Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG) announced its first project in Egypt’s North Coast, a 23-mn square meter project with investments of around EGP 1 tn. The project, dubbed SouthMed, garnered a record EGP 60 bn worth of reservations in the first 12 hours of booking prior to the project’s official sales launch. The company sees the development generating sales surpassing EGP 1.6 tn, ultimately contributing EGP 2.4 tn to the Egyptian economy and helping create 1.6 mn new jobs.

EDUCATION-

Al Ahly CIRA will develop four new international university models in Egypt under a newly-signed agreement with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt. The universities will be established in collaboration with global educational institutions from Canada, Switzerland, Germany, and the US, with the specific partners set to be announced once cooperation agreements are finalized.

DEVELOPMENT FINANCE-

We’re getting EUR 1 bn from the EU before the end of the year: Egypt and the EU inked an agreement that will disperse EUR 1 bn in macro-financial assistance during the second half of 2024 — the first of two packages of concessional loans that will total some EUR 5 bn. The first tranche will be delivered in the form of soft-financing with long repayment terms and low interest.

AND- The EU also signed four financing agreements with Egypt that will see it provide almost EUR 300 mn in grants, and it — along with the European Investment Bank (EIB) — inked a EUR 271 mn agreement with the government to back the transition to a green economy.

ENERGY-

Electricity price hikes postponed until September as blackouts persist: The government has decided to postpone any hikes to electricity prices until September, a source from the Electricity Ministry told Enterprise. The government has put off implementing the hikes until the electricity crisis is resolved, the source said.

Economy-

Egyptian non-oil business saw order volumes rise for the first time in three years supported by an easing of price pressures and stabilizing economic conditions, according to S&P Global’s Egypt PMI (pdf). The nation's headline purchasing managers’ index edged up to 49.9 in June, from 49.6 in May, settling marginally below the 50.0 mark and matching its highest level since June 2021.

WHAT’S HAPPENING NEXT WEEK-

June’s inflation data: Capmas and the CBE are expected to publish June’s inflation data on Wednesday, 10 July. Policy makers and the business community are hoping for the recent downward trend in inflation levels to continue after annual urban inflation cooled to its lowest level in 16 months in May.

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-

US politics dominated headlines this week after the US Supreme Court ruled that former president Donald Trump has broad immunity for actions he took while in office — including charges made against him following his 2020 loss to Joe Biden. Liberals were not happy with the ruling, crafting a strongly worded dissent that said Trump was now a “king above the law” and that it made a “mockery” of democratic law. Neither was Biden, who criticized the ruling in a White House speech.

Trump’s sentencing in his hushmoney trial was also delayed to 18 September, only weeks before US voters go to the polls.

Meanwhile, more names are being thrown in the ring by Democrats looking to push Joe Biden out of the race. Two top donors have suggested Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and California governor Gavin Newsom as front-runners, the Financial Times says, as pressure mounts for new candidates with strong backing to be at the ready to replace Biden, whose candidacy is seen as “doomed” even by his campaigners and friends.

AND ACROSS THE POND-

All eyes are on the UK elections, as the Labour party is set for a landslide victory while the Conservative party — in power for the past 14 years — is likely seeing the lowest number of seats in its history, according to the exit poll.

The Labour party’s victory would make 61-year old human rights lawyer Keir Starmer the country’s new prime minister. Analysts peg him as “relatively prime-ministerial” but lacking in charisma, though his pro-business, pro-reforms approach likely clinched his party’s victory. The Guardian has an in-depth profile of his life and career, while the Financial Times has a deep-dive on what’s on the party’s agenda once it is in power (chief among them is potentially the biggest government shake-up in decades).

☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND- Mercury is reaching its peak today in Cairo with highs of 38°C, dropping to a modest low of 25°C in the night. Tomorrow, the mercury is cooling down along with a few clouds with highs of 35°C and a low of 24°C in the night, according to our favorite weather app. And it’s much cooler in Alexandria and the North Coast during the weekend, with highs of 30°C and lows of 22°C.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-

Helmy on stage: The comedic genius Ahmed Helmy will be performing in his interactive play Mimo at the Grand Nile Tower Hotel in Cairo. The show will take place tonight at 9 pm but you can catch it again on Thursday 11 July, and Friday 12 July. Get your tickets here.

Go for a friends and family day out at the Adeer Plaza Festival. This event will have carnival games, arts and crafts, colorful parades, and stilt walkers. The festival will take place tomorrow from 4pm to 12am at Adeer Plaza, Waslet Dahshour in Sheikh Zayed. Register here.

Experience a mesmerizing performance in ‘Nawah’ or ‘Fertile Presence’ on the Rawabet stage. The performance fuses movement and sound to highlight the interconnectedness of agriculture, fertility and motherhood. The performance will be tomorrow and will start at 8pm. Get your tickets here.

Affichat w Aflam for the cinema aficionados. This exhibition showcases a vast selection of the late Pierre Sioufi’s collection of more than 10k pieces of Egyptian cinema memorabilia from 1932-2017. Showing in three editions, with the first ending on Thursday, 11 July, it will display pieces from the 1930s to 1970s. The exhibition is open from 10am to 10pm at Bibliothek.

HAPPENING NEXT WEEKEND-

Egyptian Nights with Cairokee. The Egyptian band will be performing at the AAST in Alexandria as a part of the Egyptian Nights Festival on Saturday, 13 July at 8pm. Click here for the tickets.