{"id":602463,"date":"2019-03-28T04:00:26","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T04:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/03\/28\/what-were-tracking-on-28-march-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-03-28T04:00:26","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T04:00:26","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-28-march-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/03\/28\/what-were-tracking-on-28-march-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 28 March 2019."},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> It\u2019s interest rate day and <\/b>the consensus<\/b><\/a> seems to be that the central bank will cut rates today<\/b> ahead of Ramadan, subsidy cuts, vacation season, and back-to-school season, all of which are likely to drive inflation upward for the next several months. We have seven of 11 polled calling a rate cut of up to 100 bps. Bloomberg reports that \u201cmost economists\u201d it surveyed predict a rate cut, while Reuters has eight of 12 saying the central bank\u2019s monetary policy committee will leave interest rates unchanged.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the last day of public hearings on amendments to the constitution. <\/b>The final vote will be on Sunday, 14 April, Ahram Online<\/a> reports, citing sources in the know. The amendments would extend presidential terms and bring back the upper house of parliament, among other things. A two-thirds majority of MPs is required for the amendments to pass and be sent to a referendum.<\/p>\n

The government is launching a consumer protection campaign today. <\/b>It\u2019s not going to help much with gridlock as they drive vehicles around the Greater Cairo Area to collect the many and sundry gripes of the lumpenproletariat. (We have more in Last Night\u2019s Talk Shows, below.)<\/p>\n

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You may now be tense:<\/b> \u201cThe global bond market rally accelerated on Wednesday, as New Zealand\u2019s central bank became the latest to sound a gloomy note on economic growth and traders ratcheted up bets that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates this year,\u201d the Financial Times writes, warning that \u201cglobal investors are piling into bonds as growth fears mount<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may now relax: <\/b>The Financial Times would like to reassure you that the reasons to invest in emerging market equities \u201cappear to stack up.\u201d Snark aside, go read \u201cEmerging market equities justify their existence<\/a>\u201d by FT EM specialist Steve Johnson, and then read the piece he was springboarding off: \u201cTime to scrap \u2018emerging markets\u2019\u201d<\/a>? in the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

Also worth a read this morning<\/b> in the salmon-colored paper: \u201cInvestors in EM currencies walk a tightrope between risk and return<\/a>,\u201d an opinion piece whose conclusion bodes well for us here in Egypt: \u201cThere isn\u2019t much yield, so anything you can find is good.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In a last-ditch attempt to push her Brexit agreement through parliament,<\/b> UK PM Theresa May has promised her fellow conservative MPs that she will resign if they vote in favor of the pact. Key Brexiteer Boris Johnson \u2014 who has been measuring the drapes of No.10 for most of his political career \u2014 has agreed to support the agreement on the condition that May resigns after. The BBC has more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In regional news worth knowing this morning:<\/p>\n