{"id":557604,"date":"2021-09-26T04:00:58","date_gmt":"2021-09-26T04:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/09\/26\/this-morning-mps-return-from-sahel-next-week-winter-opening-hours-in-effect-on-thursday-china-is-everywhere-in-the-global-press-this-morning\/"},"modified":"2021-09-26T04:00:58","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T04:00:58","slug":"this-morning-mps-return-from-sahel-next-week-winter-opening-hours-in-effect-on-thursday-china-is-everywhere-in-the-global-press-this-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/09\/26\/this-morning-mps-return-from-sahel-next-week-winter-opening-hours-in-effect-on-thursday-china-is-everywhere-in-the-global-press-this-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS MORNING: MPs return from Sahel next week; Winter opening hours in effect on Thursday; China is everywhere in the global press this morning."},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, wonderful people, and welcome to a new workweek. <\/strong>We hope you enjoyed the fall weather this weekend as much as we did.<\/p>\n

THE BIG STORY THIS MORNING for thousands of readers waiting to get jabbed: Walk-in vaccination clinics <\/strong>are apparently a thing, with the first of the centers set to open this morning. We have more in this morning\u2019s Covid Watch, below, and hope to have an update this afternoon.<\/p>\n

<\/a> The latest sign summer is really, truly over: <\/strong>The House of Representatives <\/strong>and Senate are getting ready to go back to work <\/strong>after summer recess. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has decreed that the House<\/a> will reconvene for its new legislative season on Saturday, 2 October. The decree also states that the Senate<\/a> will go back into session on 5 October (just in time for the Sixth of October holiday).<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll have more later this week on business-relevant legislation<\/strong> we think will be high on the Madbouly government\u2019s priority list when the House gets back to work. Holdover bills from the last session include amendments to the old rent law<\/a> as well as the personal status law<\/a>. The government has also telegraphed that it may be looking to impose new regulation on the real estate industry<\/a>, though much of what has been in the public eye so far is stuff that officials could likely enact through regulatory change rather than an act of parliament.<\/p>\n

<\/a> Shops and restaurants will have to close a little earlier from the end of this week when <\/strong>winter opening hours<\/a><\/strong> come into effect.<\/strong> The Local Development Ministry announced last week<\/a> that fall hours will come into force on Thursday, 30 September, meaning shops and malls will close one hour earlier at 10pm (11pm on Thursdays, Fridays and national holidays) while cafes and restaurants will shutter at midnight rather than 1am. As during the summer, essential services such as grocery stories, supermarkets and pharmacies are exempt from the rules and can open and close their doors when they want.<\/p>\n

ATTENTION YOUTUBERS AND BLOGGERS- The taxman is coming for you.<\/strong> Youtubers, Instagrammers, bloggers, vloggers and other online content creators have been instructed<\/a> by the Tax Authority to register to pay income tax. All content creators who earn over EGP 500k a year will also have to charge and remit 10% VAT on the \u201cservices\u201d they offer \u2014 read: product placement and other branded content. So a content creator is effectively being recognized as a business and will have to pay income tax on their total business income (on things like Youtube ads) and separately charge VAT for folks paying them directly for services. We have more in Last Night\u2019s Talk Shows, below.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s (the start of) the end of an era in Europe this week: <\/strong>German voters are going to the polls today in a national election that Reuters<\/a> writes is \u201ctoo close to call \u2026 \u200b\u200bwith the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) mounting a strong challenge to retiring Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives.\u201d Merkel, who has been in office since 2005, plans to step down after the election but could still be around for weeks or months to come as a caretaker while parties sort out a possible coalition government. The WSJ has a look at what Merkel\u2019s time in office has meant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-<\/strong><\/p>\n

White House National Security adviser Jake Sullivan will visit Cairo <\/strong>this<\/strong> week<\/strong> as part of a brief Middle East tour that will take him to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, sources with knowledge of the matter tell Axios<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The deadline to register for the AUC Business School\u2019s <\/strong>Private Equity Diploma<\/a><\/strong> is coming up on Tuesday, 28 September.<\/p>\n

ITIDA\u2019s <\/strong>DevOpsDays Cairo 2021<\/a><\/strong>,<\/strong> will take place on Wednesday, 29 September.<\/p>\n

The Cairo International Fair<\/strong> opens on Thursday, 30 September at the Cairo International Conference Center. It runs through 8 October.<\/p>\n

The Egypt Projects 2021 construction expo<\/strong> also opens on Thursday at the Egypt International Exhibition Center and wraps on Saturday, 2 October.<\/p>\n

Dubai\u2019s Expo 2020 opens on Friday<\/strong>, 1 October. The event, which takes place somewhere on the planet once every five years, runs for six months and will be open seven days a week. You can learn more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PSA- Next week is a short workweek. <\/strong>You can expect to have a three-day weekend 7-9 October in observance of Armed Forces Day, which is on 6 October.<\/p>\n

A BIT FURTHER OUT- The first phase of the planned electric rail line between Salam City <\/strong>and Tenth of Ramadan City<\/strong> will be inaugurated at the end of October, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said in a cabinet statement<\/a>. The line, which connects Adly Mansour station to the new administrative capital, will open next month for a three-month trial, Madbouly said.<\/p>\n

Check out our full calendar on the web<\/a><\/strong> for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.<\/p>\n

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The roundup of news and trends that move your markets and shape corporate agendas delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n

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THE BIG STORIES ABROAD are all very China-focused. <\/strong>Look for many of these to have an impact on everything from equities to crypto and general business \/ risk sentiment in the days to come.<\/p>\n

#1- Evergrande (obviously): <\/strong>The embattled property developer (named the world\u2019s most indebted company), which helped drive a selloff in global equities last week<\/a>, continued to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. Global holders of the company\u2019s USD bonds had reportedly not received an interest payment from the property giant by Thursday\u2019s deadline, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal (paywall)<\/a>. Evergrande was supposed to pay USD 83.5 mn to investors on Thursday, but the company does have a 30-day grace period before bond holders can call a default.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it\u2019s EV unit (don\u2019t ask us why it has one) is saying that there is no certainty <\/strong>that it can pay its debts <\/strong>and has \u201csuspended paying some of its operating expenses,\u201d China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group said in a regulatory filing (pdf)<\/a> to the Hong Kong exchange on Friday.<\/p>\n

Evergrande\u2019s situation is made more precarious by <\/strong>reports<\/a><\/strong> that Beijing is reluctant to <\/strong>bail it out,<\/strong> with the central government reportedly telling local officials to make preparations for a \u201cpossible storm\u201d and social unrest.<\/p>\n

Want the abridged Evergrande backstory? <\/strong>This Twitter thread<\/a> is a great place to start.<\/p>\n

#2- Crypto ban:<\/strong> The People\u2019s Bank of China has declared that all cryptocurrency transactions are illegal \u2014 and warned all of China\u2019s financial institutions and payment firms from processing all cryptos, including BTC, ether and tether. It is now illegal for overseas exchanges to provide services for residents in China through the internet, China\u2019s central bank said in a memo (Chinese)<\/a> on Friday.<\/p>\n

Crypto has fallen as a result<\/strong>, with the price of BTC falling more than 8% to just under USD 41,370 on Friday. BTC prices recovered slightly on Saturday, rising to USD 42,674.<\/p>\n

#3- Hostage diplomacy:<\/strong> Chinese authorities have released two Canadians detained more than three years ago in an apparent quid pro quo for the freeing of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who was allowed to return to China on Friday after spending years under house arrest on criminal fraud charges. The Financial Times<\/a>, Washington Post<\/a>, and Wall Street Journal<\/a> all have coverage.<\/p>\n

#4- More Chinese CEOs in the klink: <\/strong>China has \u201ckicked up its campaign to tame \u2026 debt-laden companies, as the authorities punished the corporate chiefs of two troubled companies,\u201d arresting the two top executives of the HNA group, \u201ca transportation and logistics conglomerate that bought up businesses around the world before quickly collapsing under heavy debts,\u201d the New York Times<\/a> writes.<\/p>\n

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IMF boss Georgieva denies faking China Doing Business rankings, blames ex World<\/strong> Bank head: <\/strong>Embattled IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva has denied pressuring staff to artificially improve China\u2019s ranking in the World Bank\u2019s 2018 Doing Business report, and has pointed the finger at the office of former World Bank head Jim Yong Kim. \u201cLet me be clear: the conclusions are wrong. I did not pressure anyone to alter any reports,\u201d Georgieva said on Friday, adding that she had blocked a proposal from a staffer in Kim\u2019s office to combine Hong Kong\u2019s data with China in the report, which would have given a huge boost to China\u2019s position. Georgieva will \u201csoon\u201d give a statement to the IMF\u2019s executive board. The Financial Times<\/a> and Reuters<\/a> have the story.<\/p>\n

** IN CASE YOU MISSED IT<\/strong> from Thursday\u2019s edition of EnterprisePM<\/strong>:<\/p>\n