{"id":673938,"date":"2025-10-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2025\/10\/21\/egypt-is-now-the-regions-biggest-lng-importer\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T00:00:00","slug":"egypt-is-now-the-regions-biggest-lng-importer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2025\/10\/21\/egypt-is-now-the-regions-biggest-lng-importer\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt is now the region\u2019s biggest LNG importer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning, all.<\/strong> We have a packed issue for you this morning diving into the FRA\u2019s decision to block the Emirati Sagasse from putting in a bid to acquire Elsewedy Electric, the new mechanism for calculating solidarity contribution, and fresh Chinese investments. <\/p>\n

ALSO IN TODAY\u2019S ISSUE- <\/strong>We discuss the future of payments with Tareq Muhmood, Visa\u2019s new regional president for CEMEA, and break down an Entlaq report on the untapped potential of our agritech sector. <\/p>\n

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PSA- <\/p>\n

WEATHER- <\/strong>It\u2019s another sunny day in Cairo, with a high of 32\u00b0C and a low of 20\u00b0C, according to our favorite weather app.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s more or less the same in Alexandria<\/strong>, with a high of 31\u00b0C and a low of 19\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

WATCH THIS SPACE- <\/p>\n

<\/a> Turkish textile and apparel company Eroglu Holding is in talks with the Public <\/strong>Enterprises Ministry over operating some of its affiliated spinning and weaving plants,<\/strong> company chairman Nurettin Eroglu said during a meeting<\/a> with the Public Enterprise Minister Mohamed El Shimi. The move comes as part of Egypt\u2019s plans to modernize its textile industry. <\/p>\n

The company is already carrying out technical evaluations of the factories:<\/strong> A technical delegation from the Turkish company \u2014 which is not stranger to the local market, most recently inaugurating a USD 40 mn ready-made garment plant<\/a> in the Qantara West Industrial Zone \u2014 recently visited Misr Spinning & Weaving\u2019s factory in Mahalla and has plans to visit more factories in the coming days.<\/p>\n

HAPPENING TODAY- <\/p>\n

It<\/strong>\u2019s day three of the <\/strong>Arab-African Investment & International Cooperation summit<\/a><\/strong>. <\/strong>The four-day event, organized by the Arab Women Investors Union in Cairo, focuses on sustainable development, international partnerships, and capital pathways for this year\u2019s edition.<\/p>\n

HAPPENING TOMORROW- <\/p>\n

<\/a> President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will land in Brussels tomorrow for the first-ever <\/strong>EU-Egypt Summit<\/a><\/strong>, according to an EU Council statement<\/a>. El Sisi will be joined by European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss strengthening political and economic ties under the EU-Egypt Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership and build on Egypt\u2019s role as a key stabilizing force in the region.<\/p>\n

REMEMBER- <\/strong>Last year, the <\/a>EU pledged a EUR 7.4 bn package<\/a> of loans, grants, and investments through to 2027 and inked a joint strategic and comprehensive partnership with Egypt. The package included a EUR 1.8 bn investment<\/a>protection<\/a>mechanism<\/a>, EUR 5 bn in concessional loans to provide macro-financial assistance, and EUR 600 mn in grants. <\/p>\n

Egyptian and European leaders in the public and private sectors will also be taking part <\/strong>in a day of discussions <\/strong>under the theme Implementing the EU-Egypt Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership: Accelerating Strategic Investment, Industrial Transformation and Innovation. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and investment Minister Hassan El Khatib will be among those taking to the stage, according to the draft agenda (pdf)<\/a>. <\/p>\n

DATA POINT- <\/strong>The EU was Egypt's top trading partner in 2024, accounting for 22% of total trade. The year saw EUR 32.5 bn worth of goods exchanged between the two, split between EUR 19.9 bn of imports from the EU and EUR 12.6 bn worth of exports to the EU.<\/p>\n

GDP WATCH- <\/p>\n

<\/a> A <\/strong>Reuter<\/a><\/strong>s poll<\/a><\/strong> sees the economy growing 4.6% this fiscal year<\/strong>, with those surveyed citing falling inflation and interest rates, as well as a weaker EGP boosting exports. The survey of 16 economists expects GDP to accelerate to 4.9% in the following fiscal year and to 5.3% in the fiscal year 2027-2028. <\/p>\n

REMEMBER- <\/strong>The Madbouly government expects<\/a> the economy to grow at a 4.5% clip this fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Average <\/strong>inflation is expected to drop to 12.3% in FY 2025-26<\/strong>, then to 10.2% in FY 2026-27, and to 7.5% in FY 2027-2028. The CBE wants to see inflation at 7% (\u00b1 2 percentage points) by 4Q 2026.<\/p>\n

As for interest rates<\/strong>, economists expect the Central Bank of Egypt\u2019s overnight lending rate to decline to 16.00% by June, down from the current 22.0%<\/a>, and forecast another drop to 13.00% the following year, and to 11.25% in June 2028.<\/p>\n

The EGP is projected to decline to 49.85 against the USD<\/strong> by the end of the fiscal year, down from its current rate of 47.50. It is expected to weaken further to 52.00 by June 2027, and reach 54.00 by June 2028, according to the poll. <\/p>\n

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The roundup of news and trends that move your markets and shape corporate agendas delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n

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SUKUK WATCH- <\/p>\n

Week<\/strong>ly sukuk roundup: <\/strong>The yield to maturity on our sovereign sukuk fell to 6.25% last Friday, down from 6.27% the week before, according to the Egyptian Financial Company for Sovereign Taskeek\u2019s weekly report (pdf)<\/a>. Egyptian sovereign sukuk prices fell to USD 101.58, compared to USD 101.67 a week earlier \u2014 the highest price in almost a month. <\/p>\n

DATA POINT- <\/p>\n

<\/a> Egypt ha<\/strong>s overtaken Kuwait to become the Middle East\u2019s biggest importer of <\/strong>liquified natural gas (LNG)<\/strong>, bringing in 6.46 mn tons so far this year, compared to Kuwait\u2019s 6.44 mn tons, Bloomberg<\/a> reports, citing ship-tracking data.<\/p>\n

ALSO- <\/strong>Oil production fell to its lowest level in 47 years, coming in at 507k barrels a day during 1H 2025, Asharq Business<\/a> reports citing data from the US Energy Information Administration.<\/p>\n

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** DID YOU KNOW that we cover <\/strong>Saudi Arabia<\/a><\/strong> and the <\/strong>UAE<\/a><\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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THE BIG STORY ABROAD- <\/p>\n

Topping business headlines internationally this morning is Amazon Web Services\u2019 <\/strong>outage yesterday<\/strong>, which lasted about 15 hours before operations were restored to normal. The outage \u2014 which was caused by a database malfunction \u2014 impacted thousands of websites and applications, including Venmo, Snapchat, and Zoom. It was the largest internet crash since CrowdStrike\u2019s last year, and the largest for AWS since a previous crash in 2021. (Bloomberg<\/a> | Reuters<\/a> | Wall Street Journal<\/a> | AP<\/a>) <\/p>\n

ALSO- Stock markets across the world are getting attention amid several stock rallies:<\/strong><\/p>\n