{"id":556587,"date":"2021-10-03T13:34:44","date_gmt":"2021-10-03T13:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/10\/03\/tonight-auto-sales-up-in-august-egyptair-completes-maiden-flight-to-israel-georgieva-in-trouble-opec-could-increase-production-global-economy-faces-headwinds\/"},"modified":"2021-10-03T13:34:44","modified_gmt":"2021-10-03T13:34:44","slug":"tonight-auto-sales-up-in-august-egyptair-completes-maiden-flight-to-israel-georgieva-in-trouble-opec-could-increase-production-global-economy-faces-headwinds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/10\/03\/tonight-auto-sales-up-in-august-egyptair-completes-maiden-flight-to-israel-georgieva-in-trouble-opec-could-increase-production-global-economy-faces-headwinds\/","title":{"rendered":"TONIGHT: Auto sales up in August; EgyptAir completes maiden flight to Israel; Georgieva in trouble; OPEC+ could increase production; Global economy faces headwinds."},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re kicking off a shortened <\/strong>workweek<\/strong> today<\/strong>, with the nation getting Thursday 7 October off in observance of Armed Forces Day. We can also expect to have a Thursday off later in the month thanks to the Prophet Muhammad\u2019s Birthday, which is formally observed on Monday, 18 October.<\/p>\n

THE BIG STORY OF THE DAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a> #1 Auto sales up in August:<\/strong> Car sales continued to rise in August, growing 15% y-o-y to reach 18.3k, industry data revealed today. Total vehicle sales \u2014 which include buses and trucks \u2014 saw stronger growth during the month, rising 18% to 24.5k units from 20.8k in August 2020.<\/p>\n

HAPPENING NOW-<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Cairo International Fair continues today<\/strong> at the Cairo International Conference Center, running through 8 October.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s day two of <\/strong>Techne Summit<\/a><\/strong>, with the three-day investment and entrepreneurship event in Alexandria held under the auspices of the CIT ministry bringing together some 600 startups.<\/p>\n

<\/a> For the first time ever, EgyptAir is flying to Israel:<\/strong> EgyptAir completed its maiden flight to Israel earlier today, landing at Tel Aviv\u2019s Ben Gurion Airport, Israel speaks Arabic, according to an Israeli government statement<\/a>. The state-owned carrier will operate four weekly flights between the two countries, it said. The flight comes a few weeks after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met in Sharm El Sheikh<\/a>, the first time leaders from the two countries have met publicly in Egypt in more than a decade.<\/p>\n

<\/a> THE BIG STORIES ABROAD- The pressure is building on IMF chief Georgieva:<\/strong> Hundreds of former World Bank employees have called allegations that IMF head Kristalina Georgieva manipulated data in favor of China \u201ca form of institutional corruption\u201d and called for \u201cdecisive\u201d action by the Fund\u2019s executive board as it prepares to launch its investigation this week, the Financial Times<\/a> reports. A report commissioned by the World Bank recently accused Georgieva of pressuring staff to artificially boost China\u2019s ranking in the Doing Business report when she was chief executive of the bank. Georgieva has denied<\/a> all accusations, and instead pointed the finger at staffers working in the office of former World Bank head Jim Yong Kim.<\/p>\n

Former World Bank employees want her out:<\/strong> In a letter handed to the Fund, the 331 former employees \u2014 which included one former managing director, two former executive directors and four former vice-presidents of the bank \u2014 wrote that the findings \u201cconstitute a form of institutional corruption\u201d and \u201crepresent gross abuse of management oversight authority.\u201d The report has brought \u201cunprecedented reputational risks\u201d for the bank, they wrote, calling on the IMF to take \u201cdecisive and substantive action to restore public confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her fate could be decided this week:<\/strong> The IMF\u2019s executive board will launch an investigation into the allegations this week by interviewing Georgieva and the law firm responsible for the report, sources tell Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All of this is happening at an inopportune time for the IMF and World Bank<\/strong>, which will hold their annual meetings<\/a> next week on 11-17 October. Georgieva will face the board on Tuesday, the same day in which she is due to give a virtual speech about the upcoming event, two sources said.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> Bloomberg is warning of a harsher global economy in the fourth quarter: <\/strong>The outlook is less than ideal as we head into the final stretch of the year, as the delta variant, spiralling food and fuel prices, the supply-chain crisis, worker shortages, the China slowdown, and US budget rows all combine to threaten the recovery and increase fears of a coming stagflation situation, analysts and researchers at a number of global banks tell Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Calls for a delay in the stimulus tapering are growing louder: <\/strong>With a question mark hanging over whether high inflation will be as transitory as central banks insist, their turn toward a more hawkish policy might not be the cure the global markets need, some are insisting. \u201cCentral banks are playing with fire by tapering to avert inflationary pressures without being fully sure of where we stand in the cycle,\u201d one chief economist at French investment bank Natixis told Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s Evergrande is facing another big debt test \u2014 we think: <\/strong>The Chinese developer, whose debt crisis saw global markets take a nose-dive earlier this month<\/a>, is facing a USD 260 mn principal payment coming up on Monday. If Evergrande defaults on the bond, it risks a cross-default on its other bonds, Bloomberg<\/a> writes. But given the opaque nature of private placement debt, the details of which are not listed publicly, it\u2019s hard to get a sense of just what Evergrande\u2019s liabilities are \u2014 adding to jitters over the company\u2019s demise and potential contamination in the rest of China\u2019s development sector. Evergrande was supposed to pay USD 83.5 mn to investors a few weeks<\/a> back, but the company does have a 30-day grace period before bond holders can call a default.<\/p>\n

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