{"id":552082,"date":"2022-08-10T13:51:41","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T13:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2022\/08\/10\/this-evening-ksa-snaps-up-usd-1-3-bn-worth-of-stakes-in-four-state-owned-egx-listed-companies-its-all-about-inflation-today\/"},"modified":"2022-08-10T13:51:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T13:51:41","slug":"this-evening-ksa-snaps-up-usd-1-3-bn-worth-of-stakes-in-four-state-owned-egx-listed-companies-its-all-about-inflation-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2022\/08\/10\/this-evening-ksa-snaps-up-usd-1-3-bn-worth-of-stakes-in-four-state-owned-egx-listed-companies-its-all-about-inflation-today\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS EVENING: KSA snaps up USD 1.3 bn-worth of stakes in four state-owned, EGX-listed companies + It\u2019s all about inflation today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good afternoon, wonderful people.<\/strong> It\u2019s a mostly good news kind of Wednesday, with the entry of Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF getting the ball rolling on its pledged USD 10 bn of investments in Egypt, while inflation figures didn\u2019t extend their brief cool-off last month.<\/p>\n

THE BIG STORIES TODAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a> KSA makes its grand entry into the state privatization program:<\/strong> The Saudi sovereign wealth fund acquired minority stakes in four EGX-listed companies for a total USD 1.3 bn, according to a Planning Ministry statement<\/a>. The stake purchases are the first of some USD 10 bn-worth of investments that the Public Investment Fund pledged to Egypt earlier this year as part of KSA efforts to support Egypt\u2019s external position, which has been under pressure from soaring commodity prices and capital outflows.<\/p>\n

Inflation accelerates in July:<\/strong> Inflation picked up pace in July after a one-month cool-off in June, with the uptick triggered mostly by a recent hike in fuel prices. Consumer prices in urban areas rose 13.6% year-on-year in July, up from 13.2% in June, data from official statistics agency CAPMAS (pdf)<\/a> showed. Overall, prices increased on a monthly basis by 1.3%, up from negative 0.1% a month earlier.<\/p>\n

THE BIG STORY ABROAD<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a> Inflation is also leading the conversation abroad<\/strong>, with the international business press focusing its attention on slightly lower-than-expected inflation figures coming out of the US. Inflation cooled slightly in the US in July to hit 8.5%, thanks to lower energy costs, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures (pdf)<\/a>. Although the cooling inflation is a welcome sign for the US economy, the US Federal Reserve has signaled that it needs several consecutive months of lower inflation figures before it dials back its aggressive interest rate hike plans. The story is on the front pages of the Financial Times<\/a>, the Wall Street Journal<\/a>, Reuters<\/a>, and CNBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, China\u2019s headline CPI in July also came in lower than expected<\/strong>, registering 2.7% (0.2 percentage points lower than analysts\u2019 forecasts) despite pork prices recording their highest month-on-month increase, CNBC<\/a> reports, citing data by Wind Information.<\/p>\n

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** CATCH UP QUICK<\/strong> on the top stories from today\u2019s EnterpriseAM<\/strong>:<\/p>\n