Pre-Trading Thoughts

Remittances from Egyptians working abroad increased during July 2024, for the fifth month in a row, by 86.8%. Transfers amounting to about USD3 billion

The government is considering canceling the planned capital gains tax on all EGX transactions as part of a broader drive to improve the country’s investment climate, Investment Minister said.

Deputy Minister of Finance said that EGP67 billion were disbursed to more than 3,000 exporting companies within the Export Burden Refund Program since 2019 to date.

The government will announce amendments to the export support fund within 7-10 days, Investment Minister said. The proposed amendments include disbursing export support within three months on the condition that exporters deposit their export earnings in local banks, which would handle their foreign currency needs.

Banque Misr and NBE will now let their customers traveling abroad exchange up to USD 5k in the run up to their travels, depending on the type of account they have. Both of the banks also upped their monthly purchase limits for FX transactions outside the country for its highest category of cards to the equivalent of EGP 300k.

The average yield on 3-year, fixed-rate, EGP-denominated bonds fell to 25.187% in the central bank’s weekly auction yesterday, down from 25.234% last week.

No changes have been made or instructions issued to start opening credit lines for importers looking to bring over fully manufactured cars, a government source confirmed to Enterprise in response to local media reports suggesting otherwise.

Fitch Credit Rating Agency expects Suez Canal to return to achieving new record revenues amounting to USD11.7 billion by the end of the 2024/25 fiscal year, which reflects a noticeable recovery in navigation traffic in the canal, expecting a gradual recovery in canal revenues starting in January 2025 onwards as the Israeli war on Gaza ends.

The Ministry of Petroleum seeks to increase the volume of its imports of Israeli gas by about 13%, equivalent to 150 million cubic feet per day, by next October.

The CBE is studying allowing the transfer and disbursement of funds in euros to one of the money transfer companies through partnerships with banks, to expand the scope of money transfer operations from countries that prefer to conduct their transactions in euros.

Badya University in PHDC's Badya project was inaugurated yesterday. According to local media, PHDC plans to open 10 schools in Egypt and 10-15 schools in Saudi Arabia.

According to local media, PHDC aims to increase its hotel capacity to 4k rooms within ten years. 

OCDI signed a EGP4.1 billion loan to partially finance the remaining development cost in the 464 feddan project in New Zayed.

OCI Global has sold its entire methanol business — operating in the US and Europe — to Canadian methanol producer Methanex in a USD2.05 billion agreement. The purchase is set to be completed in 1H25, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals. 

RMDA has announced the establishment of a new subsidiary dubbed “Glow” that will specialize in freely priced cosmetics and cosmeceuticals. 

Vodafone Egypt has signed an agreement with the privately held Al Safy Group and Malaysian tech company Green Packet to manufacture high-speed internet routers locally.

Al Baraka Capital, one of the approved subsidiaries of SAUD, intends to issue EGP10 million Sharia-compliant green sukuk, worth EGP6 billion for a period of 7 years in the coming period.

Three companies announced the divestment of their stakes in Tamweely, a company specializing in financing SMEs, in a deal worth EGP2.8 billion.

Red Sea General Port Authority plans to invest EGP1.3 billion in developing and increasing the depth of its quays. Also, the investment aims to increase the port’s capacity to encompass larger number of containers.