{"id":627648,"date":"2018-06-07T04:19:07","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T04:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2018\/06\/07\/what-were-tracking-on-07-june-2018\/"},"modified":"2018-06-07T04:19:07","modified_gmt":"2018-06-07T04:19:07","slug":"what-were-tracking-on-07-june-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2018\/06\/07\/what-were-tracking-on-07-june-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019re tracking on 07 June 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sure enough, MPs are in overdrive talking about a cabinet shuffle:<\/strong> MPs from the dominant Support Egypt coalition are blathering about who\u2019 s in and who\u2019s out in an expected cabinet shuffle, Al Shorouk reports<\/a>. We won\u2019t bore you with the details \u2014 it\u2019s all hot air. The significance is in the chatter, not the content thereof. The Ismail Cabinet had submitted its resignation on Tuesday \u2014 a standard procedure after the inauguration of a president \u2014 and was promptly appointed as a caretaker government until a new cabinet is formed.<\/p>\n

<\/a> Analysts see interest rates being left on hold at the next MPC meeting: <\/strong>The Central Bank of Egypt\u2019s monetary policy committee will next meet on 28 June, an top analysts are already leaning toward interest rates being left on hold, according to a poll conducted by Al Shorouk<\/a>. Pharos Research<\/strong> head Radwa El Swaify sees interest rates left unchanged to counter a projected rise in inflation from the 46.5% increase in water prices<\/a> and the threefold increase in metro ticket prices<\/a>, not to mention upcoming subsidy cuts to fuel and electricity. She noted external factors such as a strengthening USD and oil prices.<\/p>\n

Monetary easing won\u2019t resume until at least the fourth quarter? <\/strong>El Swaify sees the monetary easing cycle picking up again in 4Q2018, expecting the CBE to lower rates by 200-300 bps. Beltone Financial<\/strong> lead economist Alia Mamdouh concurs on the upcoming MPC meeting holding interest rates steady to counter a potential hike in inflation. She sees interest rates not going up until the end of the year. Sigma Capital<\/strong>\u2019s Aya Abdullah doesn\u2019t believe rates will rise again until after 4Q2018, the newspaper reports.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Ismail Cabinet said yesterday it would take steps to offset rising oil prices<\/strong> (we have more in the Speed Round below).<\/p>\n

This comes as the US is pushing for OPEC countries to increase production by around 1 mn bbl\/d<\/strong>, people familiar with the matter tell Bloomberg<\/a>. While criticism of OPEC pricing by a US administration is nothing new, this would be the first time a US government actually called for a specific production level, the business information service suggests. The request came after US retail gasoline prices surged to their highest in more than three years. This comes as Saudi Aramco raised its official selling price for Arab Light crude<\/strong> for July shipment to Asia. The price spike was the the highest since 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In miscellany today:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gear you need to work from anywhere\u201d <\/strong>is currently one of the most-watched videos on the Wall Street Journal, as tech columnist David Pierce gives you the rundown on \u201ceverything you need to work from anywhere, and how to fit your entire office in your bag.\u201d You can watch the video (runtime: 2:44)<\/a>. Or you can take our advice: Just about everyone at Enterprise works remotely four days out of five every week \u2014 and one of us gets >90% of his daily work done on an iPad Pro (the model with LTE baked in, so we\u2019re never away from the internet). Our go-to apps for iPad include:<\/p>\n