{"id":575706,"date":"2020-10-25T04:15:15","date_gmt":"2020-10-25T04:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/10\/25\/what-were-tracking-on-25-october-2020\/"},"modified":"2020-10-25T04:15:15","modified_gmt":"2020-10-25T04:15:15","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-25-october-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/10\/25\/what-were-tracking-on-25-october-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 25 October 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, friends. It\u2019s a big day for: The EGX \u2014 and the financial system as a whole. <\/strong>One of Egypt\u2019s most intense (if shortest) corporate dramas played out at CIB over some 33 hours between 9am on Thursday and 6pm Friday evening. The story kicked off first thing on Thursday, when CIB CEO Hussein Abaza received written notice that the Central Bank of Egypt was \u201cdischarging the chairman and managing director of CIB,\u201d Hisham Ezz Al Arab, after an audit.<\/p>\n

CIB\u2019s board convened that morning for an emergency meeting <\/strong>with members joining both at the bank\u2019s headquarters and by teleconference. On Thursday afternoon, the bank\u2019s non-executive board members met with Central Bank of Egypt Governor Tarek Amer. Meanwhile, the rumor mill went into overdrive.<\/p>\n

By late Friday afternoon, it was over:<\/strong> Ezz Al Arab had resigned as chairman and managing director. Veteran regulator Sherif Samy was named non-executive chairman. Abaza, now MD as well as CEO, notified the bank\u2019s staff and then got on a 5pm call to reassure shareholders and investors in Egypt\u2019s highest-profile publicly traded company.<\/p>\n

As Abaza spoke with investors, the CBE issued a statement to Bloomberg saying that <\/strong>CIB \u201cremains prudentially sound\u201d<\/strong> and that depositor funds are \u201cfully secure.\u201d CIB\u2019s board, meanwhile, said it \u201ctakes regulatory findings very seriously\u201d and will investigate \u201call the issues identified by the central bank in its latest review.\u201d CIB\u2019s board and management anticipate receiving a copy of the audit report as early as today.<\/p>\n

What to watch for: <\/strong>CIB\u2019s shares are expected to resume trading this morning on the EGX after having been suspended by the FRA on Thursday.<\/p>\n

We have the full rundown in this morning\u2019s Speed Round, below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a> Polls opened in 14 governorates yesterday for voters here at home to elect the next House of Representatives<\/strong>:<\/strong> Voters in Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, New Valley, Sohag, Qena, Luxor, Aswan, Red Sea, Alexandria, Beheira and Matrouh have until tonight to cast their ballot.<\/p>\n

The rest of the country will vote next week<\/strong>, with the second round of expat voting on 4-6 November and polls opening here at home on 7-8 November. Re-runs will be held at the end of November and early December.<\/p>\n

The vote will see 568 MPs enter the new parliament<\/strong>, with more than 4k individual candidates vying for half of the seats and another 1.1k candidates running on four party lists. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will hand pick 5% of the seats.<\/p>\n

The election is getting attention in the foreign press<\/strong>, with Reuters<\/a>, the Associated Press<\/a>, and AFP<\/a> noting that the pro-government Mostaqbal Watan party \u2014 which took almost three-quarters of the seats in last month\u2019s Senate election \u2014 is likely to do best at the polls.<\/p>\n

The Gouna Film Festival kicked off on Friday <\/strong>and wraps at the end of the month. Africanews<\/a> took note, saying this year\u2019s iteration of the festival is underpinned by \u201cpomp and caution\u201d amid covid-19.<\/p>\n

PSA- We\u2019re heading into a four-day workweek as the country takes this Thursday off<\/strong> in observance of the Prophet\u2019s Birthday. The Madbouly Cabinet confirmed<\/a> the national holiday yesterday, and you can expect announcements from the EGX and Central Bank of Egypt in due course.<\/p>\n

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COVID NEWS-<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Health Ministry <\/strong>reported<\/a><\/strong> 167 new covid-19 infections yesterday<\/strong>, down from 170 the day before. Egypt has now disclosed a total of 106,397 confirmed cases of covid-19. The ministry also reported 11 new deaths, bringing the country\u2019s total death toll to 6,187. We now have a total of 98,813 confirmed cases that have fully recovered.<\/p>\n

The virus that causes covid-19 is spreading more widely than in the earlier months of the <\/strong>pandemic<\/strong>, head of the covid-19 task force Hossam Hosny warned El Hekaya\u2019s Amr Adib yesterday. Hosny pointed to the looming seasonal flu season, which could be cause for confusion due to the similarity of its symptoms to the disease and urged citizens to continue observing precautionary measures (watch, runtime: 5:22<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The number of ICU beds in public hospitals is planned to increase 77% this fiscal <\/strong>year <\/strong>to 7,253 beds from 4,107 in FY2019-2020, the local press<\/a>reports, quoting an unnamed government source. The Health Ministry is also working to add 400 incubators and 449 beds for children, the source added. The ministry had said in June<\/a> that it had 5,800 ICU beds and 35k regular beds earmarked for covid-19 patients.<\/p>\n

Russian tour operator begins organizing indirect flights to the Red Sea as direct flight ban is still in place:<\/strong> Russian travel agency Pegas Touristik will launch daily indirect flights from Moscow to Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada via Turkey\u2019s Antalya from this Thursday, 29 October, Al Shorouk<\/a> reports. The number of trips will increase from 2 November. Russia\u2019s ban on direct flights to the Red Sea resorts remains in place.<\/p>\n

France expects to be fighting covid-19 until at least mid-2021<\/strong>, President Emmanuel Macron said as the country exceeded 1 mn cases Friday, recording a record daily tally of 42k, Reuters<\/a>reports. Europe\u2019s daily infection rate has doubled in the last 10 days<\/strong>, reaching a total of 7.8 mn cases, despite increased restrictions introduced over the past weeks designed to avoid the need for new nationwide lockdowns.<\/p>\n

High-profile vaccine trials have resumed: <\/strong>Johnson & Johnson and Astrazeneca have been cleared by US regulators to resume vaccine trials after they were halted when a participant in each study fell ill, Bloomberg<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sudan will get off US terror list after pledging to establish ties with Israel:<\/strong> US president Donald Trump has agreed to remove Sudan from its terrorism list<\/a> after it paid USD mns to families affected by two terror attacks and agreed to normalize ties with Israel. Egypt\u2019s Foreign Ministry said Cairo welcomed an end to Sudan\u2019s \u201clong years of political and economic isolation\u201d in a statement<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n

Sudan will move toward normalizing relations with Israel<\/strong> under a US-brokered accord and Israeli envoys will make their way to Khartoum in the coming days, Reuters<\/a> reported. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi tweeted his approval<\/a> of the US-brokered agreement.<\/p>\n

Prepare for a surge in global debt restructuring:<\/strong> The world\u2019s biggest asset manager has said that the quantity of debt requiring restructuring could surpass the peak that followed the global financial crisis, BlackRock Investment Institute said in a research note (pdf)<\/a> last week..<\/p>\n

More US companies are offering guidance during the 3Q earnings season<\/strong>, signaling to investors that they\u2019re learning to cope with the uncertainty of the pandemic which could stretch well into next year, Reuters<\/a> reports. Some 73 companies in the S&P 500 index have offered guidance so far (far below the 170 companies that typically provide guidance) and are apparently making their most bullish expectations in 23 years, according to Refinitiv data.<\/p>\n

\"enterprise\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Other international news to keep on your radar:<\/p>\n