{"id":546371,"date":"2022-05-15T04:00:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-15T04:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2022\/05\/15\/this-morning-its-interest-rate-week-uae-president-and-abu-dhabi-ruler-sheikh-khalifa-bin-zayed-al-nahyan-dies-73-global-stocks-on-worst-run-since-08\/"},"modified":"2022-05-15T04:00:24","modified_gmt":"2022-05-15T04:00:24","slug":"this-morning-its-interest-rate-week-uae-president-and-abu-dhabi-ruler-sheikh-khalifa-bin-zayed-al-nahyan-dies-73-global-stocks-on-worst-run-since-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2022\/05\/15\/this-morning-its-interest-rate-week-uae-president-and-abu-dhabi-ruler-sheikh-khalifa-bin-zayed-al-nahyan-dies-73-global-stocks-on-worst-run-since-08\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS MORNING: It\u2019s interest rate week; UAE President and Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan dies, 73; Global stocks on worst run since \u201808"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, friends, and welcome to what is shaping up to be an exceptionally busy week. <\/strong>But first:<\/p>\n

UAE President and Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan died this <\/strong>weekend at age <\/strong>73<\/strong>, after nearly two decades leading his country. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected yesterday<\/a>as the country\u2019s third president. The story was everywhere over the weekend, including: BBC<\/a> | The Guardian<\/a> | CNN<\/a> | Bloomberg<\/a> | NPR<\/a>.<\/p>\n

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi headed to the UAE yesterda<\/strong>y to offer his condolences to MBZ, according to an Ittihadiya statement<\/a>. Egypt has declared<\/a> a three-day mourning period for Sheikh Khalifa starting Friday. Our condolences to all of our readers in the Emirates.<\/p>\n

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

<\/a> The PM could deliver a major policy announcement as early as today:<\/strong> Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly is set to announce new measures to increase private investment and tackle the economic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine this week. A cabinet statement<\/a> said last week that the prime minister would give a press conference \u201cearly\u201d this week to unveil his government\u2019s plans, which are expected to include new incentives for attracting foreign direct investment and increasing the role of the private sector in the economy. The announcement was initially expected early last week.<\/p>\n

A huge US \u201c<\/strong>GreenTech business mission<\/a><\/strong>\u201d arrives in Cairo today:<\/strong> More than 40 US companies arrive for three days of meetings today to kick the tires on green investment and potential business partnerships in sectors ranging from energy to healthcare, agriculture, aviation, construction and water resource management. The high-level delegation will meet with members of the business community and senior government officials, including Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and other members of cabinet. The mission is being organized by AmCham and the US Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

Senior reps of US financial institutions will hold a special briefing on financing tools for <\/strong>green projects in Egypt<\/strong> available from US agencies. The briefing takes place tomorrow at the Nile Ritz-Carlton and is open to both members and non-members of AmCham provided you have registered here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ALSO IN TOWN THIS WEEK:<\/strong> Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman<\/a>, according to an unconfirmed report on the talk shows last week.<\/p>\n

IT\u2019S INTEREST RATE WEEK- <\/strong>Expect the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to raise rates by up to 200 bps when the Monetary Policy Committee meets on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Six of seven analysts and economists featured in <\/strong>our customary poll<\/a><\/strong> expect <\/strong>policymakers to hike rates<\/strong> in response to rising inflation and volatility in emerging-market assets, with five telling us that the central bank could raise them by up to 200 bps. The survey came in the wake of fresh inflation figures that showed consumer prices accelerated beyond expectations in April, hitting a near-three-year high of 13.1%<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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EGP WATCH- The EGP continued <\/strong>to strengthen agai<\/strong>nst the greenback on Thursday<\/strong>, jumping to USD 18.38 to the greenback from EGP 18.44 on Wednesday, according to central bank data. The EGP gained almost 1% on the USD in the last two days of the week, after having slipped 17.5% since the devaluation of the currency in the middle of March.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s driving the moves? <\/strong>Recent announcements on remittances, higher Suez Canal revenues, and a lower trading of the USD could be responsible for recent gains, economist Hany Genena told Kelma Akhira\u2019s Lamees El Hadidi last night (watch, runtime: 8:23<\/a>). Speculation that the government may be nearing a new financing agreement<\/a> with the IMF could also be helping the currency, he said, suggesting that this could have given the banks \u201ccourage\u201d to provide further access to FX to the public.<\/p>\n

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ALSO COMING UP-<\/strong> Egypt will sign contracts for the second and third phases of our high-speed railway with Siemens by the end of May, Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir said yesterday<\/a>. The German conglomerate signed a USD 4.5 bn contract<\/a> with the government last September for the first phase of the line, which will run 660 km between Ain Sokhna and Marsa Matrouh. The later phases will link Cairo, Aswan, the North Coast and the Red Sea running 1.8k km across the country.<\/p>\n

COVID WATCH-<\/strong> Egypt saw an average of five new covid cases per day last week, down from eight a week earlier<\/a>, according to Health Ministry figures<\/a> released yesterday. Egypt also saw daily average fatalities fall to three, down from four the week before. Around 34.7 mn people are now fully vaccinated and almost 2.9 mn have received their booster shots, according to the statement.<\/p>\n

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MORNING MUST-READ- <\/strong>Mahmoud Mohieldin is ringing the alarm on climate change \u2014 <\/strong>very, very loudly. <\/strong>In his role as the high-level UN climate change champion, Mohieldin and colleague Nigel Topping are out with a short, hard-hitting op-ed that calls for clear action on four points:<\/p>\n