{"id":560462,"date":"2021-03-01T04:16:17","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T04:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/03\/01\/what-were-tracking-on-1-march-2021\/"},"modified":"2021-03-01T04:16:17","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T04:16:17","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-1-march-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/03\/01\/what-were-tracking-on-1-march-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 1 March 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to March, ladies and gentlemen.<\/strong> It\u2019s the start of a new month, and we are cautiously optimistic that good things are coming as the country\u2019s vaccination program begins to open up to non-medical personnel.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which:<\/strong> The Health Ministry wants you to know that you\u2019re not considered \u201celderly\u201d if you\u2019re above the age of 40, and therefore not yet allowed to register for the vaccine. We have the full story in this morning\u2019s Covid Watch, below.<\/p>\n

THE BIG STORY AT HOME besides the vaccination program is the Real Estate Registry<\/strong> Act<\/strong>, which \u2014 after stirring up a public opinion storm over the past couple of weeks \u2014 will not come into effect before December, and will likely undergo some surgery first. The details are in the news well and Last Night\u2019s Talk Shows, below.<\/p>\n

THE BIG STORY INTERNATIONALLY- Stand by for another announcement on <\/strong>US-Saudi ties: <\/strong>The Biden administration will make a new announcement elaborating on its relationship with Saudi Arabia later today, a few days after it imposed sanctions on members of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman\u2019s inner circle for their involvement in the 2018 murder of journalist and critic Jamal Khashoggi, Reuters<\/a> reports. The White House stopped short of sanctioning MbS \u2014 the kingdom\u2019s de facto ruler who US intelligence accused of being directly implicated in the killing in a report declassified last week \u2014 drawing the ire of observers including the Washington Post<\/a> editorial board, which insists MbS \u201dshould not get a pass.\u201d<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s not jump to conclusions:<\/strong> A White House insider suggested that there may not be any new measures, and the announcement could just be an elaboration on Friday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

Sanctioning a foreign leader is not customary foreign policy<\/strong>, but that \u201cthere are a range of diplomatic conversations\u201d behind the scenes to \u201crecalibrate\u201d Washington\u2019s relationship with Riyadh, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Fox News Sunday<\/a> and CNN\u2019s State of the Union<\/a><\/p>\n

Biden isn\u2019t getting good coverage in the Saudi press right now: <\/strong>Saudi media figures have spoken out<\/a> in support of MbS, with local journalists saying the US does not have the right to \u201cbully\u201d Saudi, while UK-based Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper wrote that the kingdom \u201cwas not a banana republic\u201d and would not kowtow to US threats. The hashtag<\/a> \u201cWe are all Mohammed bin Salman\u201d has been trending on Saudi Twitter.<\/p>\n

Saudi may not be under sanctions, but its market is feeling the pinch:<\/strong> The Tadawul All Share Index closed down 0.5% on Sunday, its sharpest single-day decline since 18 February, Reuters<\/a> reported. The downturn is arguably not alarming, and even flows shouldn\u2019t be badly hit at this point, \u201cunless sanctions hit particular asset classes,\u201d Alia Moubayed, Jeffries International\u2019s chief MENA economist, told Bloomberg TV (watch, runtime: 6:56<\/a>).<\/p>\n

<\/a> *** CATCH UP QUICK <\/strong>on the top stories from yesterday\u2019s edition of Enterprise PM:<\/p>\n