{"id":542572,"date":"2022-01-04T03:36:39","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T03:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2022\/01\/04\/this-morning-its-pmi-day-unified-budget-act-fintech-law-up-for-final-house-votes-today-opec-meeting-theranos-holmes-found-guilty-of-fraud\/"},"modified":"2022-01-04T03:36:39","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T03:36:39","slug":"this-morning-its-pmi-day-unified-budget-act-fintech-law-up-for-final-house-votes-today-opec-meeting-theranos-holmes-found-guilty-of-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2022\/01\/04\/this-morning-its-pmi-day-unified-budget-act-fintech-law-up-for-final-house-votes-today-opec-meeting-theranos-holmes-found-guilty-of-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS MORNING: It\u2019s PMI day; Unified Budget Act, fintech law up for final House votes today; OPEC+ meeting; Theranos\u2019 Holmes found guilty of fraud."},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to the first Tuesday of what we expect <\/strong>will be a holiday-shortened week<\/strong> ahead of Coptic Christmas. We hope you\u2019re making plans to enjoy the long weekend \u2014 you\u2019ve got this and 27 January to which to look forward before a holiday drought that will stretch until near the end of Ramadan in April.<\/p>\n

THANK YOU to all of you who participated in our 2022 Reader Poll. <\/strong>It closed at midnight. We\u2019ll have the results for you all next week and will announce the names of eight readers who we\u2019ll be inviting to breakfast with us once this whole omicron thing dies down a bit. A dozen other participants will be getting nice Enterprise mugs.<\/p>\n

<\/a> PSA #1 - Employees are now paying 15% more towards social ins.: <\/strong>Public and private sector workers are now contributing a minimum of EGP 1.4k and a maximum of EGP 9.4k from their gross salaries towards social ins. as of 1 January, up 15% from last year, according to a<\/a>statement<\/a> from the National Social Ins. Authority. The hike comes in line with a plan laid out in the 2019 Pension Act<\/a> that will see minimum and maximum contributions increase by 15% annually until 2027.<\/p>\n

The hike will see pensioners getting a bit more in their pockets<\/strong> each month, the statement said. Payouts to retirees and other beneficiaries rose on 1 January to a minimum of EGP 910 and a maximum of EGP 7.5k.<\/p>\n

PSA #<\/strong>2- <\/strong>This Thursday, 6 January is off for banks and the public sector <\/strong>in observance of Coptic Christmas, which falls on Friday. We\u2019re still waiting on confirmation from the EGX and the Manpower Ministry that the stock market will be closed and the private sector will be off on that day, but we\u2019re optimistic: If banks are closed, the stock market cannot trade.<\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S HAPPENING TODAY-<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s PMI day:<\/strong> Purchasing managers\u2019 index figures for December for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar will be released at 6:15am CLT today \u2014 you an find them all here<\/a> when they\u2019re out. Egypt\u2019s non-oil business activity has remained in contraction territory for each of the past 12 months, as inflation and supply chain bottlenecks continued to weigh on private sector firms. Last month<\/a>, output fell for the third consecutive month, as output price inflation rose at the second-fastest pace since mid-2018. Figures for the UAE will be released tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Watch that inflation:<\/strong> Improvement in activity could remain muted over the next several months as inflation is expected to suppress output, according to purchasing managers surveyed in November\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

This is why next week\u2019s inflation figure is crucial:<\/strong> Inflation figures for December will be<\/strong> released on Monday, 10 January.<\/strong> Annual urban inflation slowed for the second month running in November<\/a> and dipped to its lowest since July as pressure on food prices continued to ease, but some analysts have flagged<\/a> a potential acceleration in inflation figures. What\u2019s to blame? Persistent global inflation, a potential scale-back of food subsidies, potential electricity price increases, and a rise in demand following higher employment rates.<\/p>\n

<\/a> On the legislative agenda today:<\/strong> The House of Representatives is back in session today and is scheduled to hold final votes on:<\/p>\n