{"id":603447,"date":"2019-04-23T03:59:36","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T03:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/04\/23\/what-were-tracking-on-23-april-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-04-23T03:59:36","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T03:59:36","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-23-april-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2019\/04\/23\/what-were-tracking-on-23-april-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 23 April 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Polls closed last night in the constitutional referendum<\/b>, ending three days of balloting that have dominated the front pages here at home and the conversation on Egypt in the international media. Just over 61 mn people were eligible to vote. The National Elections Authority says<\/a> to expect the results of the referendum no later than this coming Saturday (27 April). You can read our rundown on the amendments here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/a> The EGX is in the grip of a pre-holiday slowdown<\/b>, with trading volumes in the dumps this week after hitting a six-year low of EGP 190 mn on Sunday before crawling back to a slightly less comatose EGP 340 mn yesterday, according to EGX data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s behind the market\u2019s lack of energy?<\/b> \u201cLeaving the Global Telecom case unresolved is creating uncertainty in the market and investors are slow to take positions and many funds have their money stuck in the share,\u201d Sherif Shebl, vice president of GCC sales at Pharos Holding, told Enterprise. The long vacation coming up is also negatively impacting trading, Shebl said.<\/p>\n

And that makes it time for our daily reminder: <\/b>The EGX and banks will close from Thursday through Monday (25-29 April) and again on Wednesday, 1 May in observance of a string of national holidays. That leads us straight into Ramadan, which the National Astronomy Institute says will start on Monday, 6 May. Banks and the EGX traditionally move to shortened Ramadan hours at that time.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> Surviving the Emerging Markets Robot Apocalypse: <\/b>Egypt will have its first undergraduate data science program this fall. Set aside for a moment the (often terrifying) privacy implications of how data is used, we think the program at the American University in Cairo is a mandatory first step in building an economy that will one day survive the coming Robot Apocalypse. (In other words: When developments in AI, data, robotics and the like nuke jobs in everything from manufacturing to call centers, bringing into question what drives growth in emerging economies such as ours in the future.) We have chapter and verse on AUC\u2019s new data program in this morning\u2019s Spotlight, below.<\/b><\/p>\n

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So, what\u2019s going on today?<\/p>\n

The <\/b>Arab Federation of Exchanges\u2019<\/b><\/a> two-day annual conference kicks off this morning at the Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo.<\/b> The event puts the spotlight on SMEs, artificial intelligence and fintech as well as the future of listings. Look for keynotes from Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly<\/b>, Public Enterprises Minister Hisham Tawfik<\/b>, Investment Minister Sahar Nasr<\/b> and our friend EGX Chairman Mohamed Farid<\/b>. Panel discussions will feature global capital market leaders from the World Bank, EBRD and World Federation of Exchanges. Also speaking at the gathering today: Our friends from CIB, who feature as a success story. We\u2019ll have coverage of day one in tomorrow morning\u2019s edition.<\/b><\/p>\n

The SME Governance Workshop<\/b><\/a> hosted by the Egyptian Private Equity Association and IFC kicks off today and wraps up tomorrow. If you run an SME, you should try to make it.<\/p>\n

Also this week:<\/p>\n