{"id":591693,"date":"2019-12-15T04:28:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-15T04:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/12\/15\/what-were-tracking-on-15-december-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-12-15T04:28:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-15T04:28:17","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-15-december-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/12\/15\/what-were-tracking-on-15-december-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 15 December 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

News this morning is as thin as trading volumes on the EGX<\/strong>, unusual for a Sunday morning. Has the dreaded (but secretly welcomed) end-of-year news slowdown begun? Or is it just that journalists were preoccupied with conferences in Aswan (Thursday) and Sharm (this weekend through Tuesday)?<\/p>\n

The third edition of the <\/strong>World Youth Forum<\/a><\/strong> kicked off in Sharm El Sheikh <\/strong>yesterday<\/strong>, and will likely dominate today\u2019s news cycle here at home. The three-day event will feature discussions on a range of topics including Mediterranean security and development, food security in Africa, and climate change.<\/p>\n

<\/a> One thing from the forum certain to get plenty of attention: The CBE is launching a new <\/strong>(EGP 50 bn?) tourism support initiative.<\/strong> We should expect to see details on what sources describe as Egypt\u2019s largest initiative to support the tourism sector, which was agreed upon at the WYF, according to Al Shorouk<\/a>. The initiative will reportedly allocate EGP 50 bn in soft loans to finance the renovation and development of hotels and tourism facilities, sources tell the newspaper. The sources also said to expect the announcement of an important decision on arrears and debt, without giving further details.<\/p>\n

El Sisi pledges not to sign Personal Status Act unless it is fair to Egyptian women: <\/strong>President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said during the Aswan Forum for Peace last week that he would reject the Personal Status Act currently being debated in the House of Representatives if it does not treat women fairly, according to Al Mal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ADDH delegation in town this week for talks on USD 20 bn investment platform <\/strong>with Egypt\u2019s sovereign wealth fund:<\/strong> A delegation from the Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company (ADDH) will be in Cairo sometime this week for meetings on potential investments for its USD 20 bn investment platform with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, an unnamed source from the fund tells Masrawy<\/a>. The ADDH officials and an accompanying delegation of Emirati investors have the chance to kick the tires on potential transactions in fields including energy, industry, agriculture, real estate, and tourism, the source says.<\/p>\n

Google\u2019s annual search trends indicated that sports topped Egyptians\u2019 interests this <\/strong>year<\/strong>, with the Egyptian football league being the most widely searched topic on the search engine. Coming in at second place is the results of the secondary school examinations, followed by more football and former army contractor Mohamed Ali. Also on the list: Mohamed Ramadan\u2019s song Mafia, footballer Amr Warda, the National Elections Committee and \u2026 Thanos. Tap here to see the full list<\/a> of Egypt\u2019s top searches or here for the full global rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PSA- You\u2019ll want to consider bringing your umbrella with you this morning. <\/strong>The national weather service<\/a> and our favourite weather app alike agree that we\u2019re looking at a daytime high of 17\u00b0C with a chance of rain. You may also want to leave a few minutes early this morning: <\/strong>Our app of choice is showing a 100% chance of rain between 6am and 8am, and that won\u2019t do anything good for traffic\u2026<\/p>\n

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The robots could be coming to Egypt:<\/strong> The Arab League\u2019s Arab Union for Development will invest USD 6 mn in a factory to produce industrial, service, and educational robots, union Chairman Khaled Abed told the local press.<\/a> The factory will be built either in Egypt, Jordan, or the UAE and will be completed by the end of 2022, he added.<\/p>\n

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

Brexit is now a certainty after voters handed<\/strong> Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party a commanding parliamentary majority<\/strong> in the UK election on Thursday, according to the BBC<\/a>. Johnson has pledged to pass his EU withdrawal bill through parliament before the end of the year, paving the way for the country to leave the bloc at the end of January.<\/p>\n

MUST READ- \u201cThe decisive Conservative victory leaves no doubt that in today\u2019s global<\/strong> equation, national interests are supreme and globalization is suspect<\/strong>,\u201d writes the New York Times<\/a>. \u201cThe sense that policy moves in one direction, toward more liberalization and more integration, has been replaced by recognition that policy can go backward as well as forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Central bankers getting woke on climate change can be a good thing \u2014 but <\/strong>there are limits to what they can achieve.<\/strong> Central bankers are always going to take a backseat when it comes to pro-climate policymaking despite the economic risks posed by global warming, Megan Greene argues in the Financial Times<\/a>. Figures like Christine Lagarde and Mark Carney can perhaps generate momentum within certain circles, but it\u2019s not immediately clear how the central bankers\u2019 toolkit can actually be put in service of meeting climate targets<\/strong>. Purchasing green bonds is an option, but doing this would result in resource allocation, threatening central bank independence. In the end, monetary policymakers may have to accept their role as firefighters and not fireproofers: \u201cPerhaps [banks] can find ways to finance the fight. But they have no real policy role. Their job is to contain the fallout,\u201d Greene writes.<\/p>\n

enterprise<\/p>\n

US, China make trade breakthrough:<\/strong> President Trump and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping have taken the first steps to winding down tensions after agreeing a preliminary trade agreement on Friday. We have more details on what we know about the accord in this morning\u2019s Macro Picture, below.<\/p>\n

Could we be seeing more fiscal stimulus in 2020 as governments heed the call? <\/strong>Central bankers are likely to start seriously turning to governments for accommodative economic measures as the \u201cmonetary sugar rush\u201d and \u201cseemingly limitless rate cuts\u201d are starting to lose steam, writes Principal Global Investors chief strategist Seema Shah for the FT<\/a>. This trend, which Shah says will be evident in Europe, could see central banks effectively assume a new role of negotiators with governments to affect changes in fiscal positions.<\/p>\n

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In international miscellany:<\/p>\n