{"id":563615,"date":"2021-07-11T04:00:39","date_gmt":"2021-07-11T04:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/07\/11\/this-morning-former-egyptian-first-lady-jehan-el-sadat-passes-away-aged-88-g20-warns-on-economic-recovery-agrees-global-tax-pact\/"},"modified":"2021-07-11T04:00:39","modified_gmt":"2021-07-11T04:00:39","slug":"this-morning-former-egyptian-first-lady-jehan-el-sadat-passes-away-aged-88-g20-warns-on-economic-recovery-agrees-global-tax-pact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2021\/07\/11\/this-morning-former-egyptian-first-lady-jehan-el-sadat-passes-away-aged-88-g20-warns-on-economic-recovery-agrees-global-tax-pact\/","title":{"rendered":"THIS MORNING: Former Egyptian first lady Jehan El Sadat passes away, aged 88; G20 warns on economic recovery + agrees global tax pact"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, ladies and gents \u2014 we start the new week with the official news that Eid El Adha will begin next Tuesday, 20 July<\/strong> after Dar Al Iftaa yesterday evening came out with a statement<\/a> confirming the news. Though we\u2019re expecting the vacation to run through Thursday, the government, banks, and the EGX are yet to announce the official days off.<\/p>\n

The biggest news over the weekend came to us courtesy of Moscow<\/strong>, which finally announced that it had lifted its ban on direct flights to Egypt\u2019s Red Sea resorts after six long years (though we\u2019re still none the wiser about when airlines will have their routes up and running). This coincided with the biggest non-story of the weekend, which saw a lot of talk and equal amounts of hand-sitting at the UN Security Council\u2019s chamber in New York, leaving the way forward through the GERD crisis as uncertain as ever. All that and more in the news well, below.<\/p>\n

But before we get to it, we open the issue with more sombre news...<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a> Former Egyptian first lady Jehan El Sadat passed away at the age of 88 last Friday<\/strong>, an<\/a>Ittihadiya statement announced<\/a> at the weekend. Her military funeral service was attended by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and dozens of governmental officials. The widow of late president Anwar El Sadat had reportedly<\/a> been struggling with illness for some time. The former first lady was married to late president Anwar El Sadat from 1949 until his assassination in 1981. The BBC<\/a> also took note of the former first lady\u2019s passing, as well as her contribution to advancing women\u2019s rights in Egypt where she pushed for laws granting women the right to custody of children after divorce.<\/p>\n

The story got a lot of digital ink in the global press over the weekend: <\/strong>Reuters<\/a> | Associated Press<\/a> | Washington Post<\/a> I New York Times<\/a> I BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> THE BIG STORY INTERNATIONALLY- Covid variants + vaccine inequality threaten global <\/strong>economy -G20:<\/strong> G20 finance ministers warned yesterday that the spread of new variants of covid-19 and uneven vaccination rollouts across the developing world could jeopardize the global recovery. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that the rapidly spreading delta variant means that the virus remains the \u201cfundamental risk facing the world,\u201d while ministers pledged to maintain economic support to prevent recoveries from faltering.<\/p>\n

Ministers also signed off on the global tax pact<\/strong>: G20 finance ministers yesterday signed off on an agreement that would levy an international tax on multinational corporations, Reuters<\/a> reports. The plan, backed by G7 nations<\/a> last month and agreed by some 130 countries last week, would impose a minimum global corporate tax rate of 15% on large corporations in every country they operate in.<\/p>\n

Holdout states are being pressed to sign up<\/strong>:The G20 is urging all countries holding out to sign up to the global corporate tax pact before the meeting of G20 leaders, according to the Financial Times<\/a>. Eight nations including Ireland, Barbados, Hungary and Estonia are refusing to sign up to the minimum tax.<\/p>\n

But there are other hurdles<\/strong>: US lawmakers could still prevent the country from taking part in the accord, which requires Congressional approval to be finalized. A Treasury official told Bloomberg<\/a> that pillar 1 of the agreement, which entails a redistribution of tax rights on multinationals, won't be greenlit before next year amid congressional opposition.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/strong> The pact will be discussed by the G20 leaders when they convene in Italy in October. The OECD accord is slated for implementation in 2023.<\/p>\n

***CATCH UP QUICK<\/strong> with the top stories from Thursday\u2019s edition of EnterprisePM:<\/p>\n