The Egyptian cabinet has approved the presidential decree on a 51.518 million EUR agreement between Egyptian National Railways and Export-Import Bank of Korea

Newsletter

24 Apr 2022

For our top talks today, first, the Egyptian cabinet has approved the presidential decree on a 51.518 million EUR agreement between Egyptian National Railways and Export-Import Bank of Korea for the upgrade of the 224-kilometer Luxor-High Dam line. The project provides a signaling system that allows trains to move at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour (km/h) instead of 120 km/h. The new system aims to replace the old one with a modern electronic system that achieves highest levels of safety. Moreover, the project enables safety and operation systems. It includes installing automatic gates for 70 level crossings, and monitoring and operation systems for the railway line. (Arab Finance)

Second, Egypt is set to build complexes of automated government agencies across all the governorates over three years at a cost of around 11 billion EGP, according to the Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawi.
The new complexes will improve the quality of services provided to citizens, keeping pace with the modern developments in the world, Shaarawi added. The minister also revealed that field trips have been made to 15 locations allocated by governorates for the government complexes. (Arab Finance)
Moving to the green economy and renewable energy talks, Egypt has signed an agreement worth 26 million EUR with KfW Development Bank to finance the second phase of the hydropower plants rehabilitation project in Aswan.
The project is set to be implemented by the Ministry of Electricity within the framework of the financial cooperation between the Egyptian and German governments. Under the project, hydropower transformers in Aswan will be upgraded or replaced to ensure the operational efficiency of the plants and benefit from their operational economic competitiveness. In the same vein, El-Mashat said that Egypt’s current cooperation portfolio with KfW amounts to 1.1 billion EUR. (Mubasher)
The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Egypt, Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), and the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a consortium comprising ZeroWaste and EDF Renewables to set up a project for the production of green fuel, with 3 billion EUR in investments.
Under the MoU, around 140,000 tons of green ammonia are set to be produced to supply ships. The amount of produced green ammonia is set to gradually increase to 350,000 tons per annum. The project will be established over several stages as per an accelerated schedule. The construction of the project is set to begin in 2024, with the commercial operations to start in 2026. (Arab Finance)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is keen on building a program with Egypt that caters to the vulnerable and is keen on the continuous provision of social protection, according to the fund’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
Egypt is “taking very seriously” the need for financial stability and the maintenance of economic reforms, Georgieva noted. Georgieva referred to the decline in Egypt’s international reserves for the protection of its currency. It is worth mentioning that the IMF upgraded its forecasts for Egypt’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth to 5.9% for fiscal year (FY) 2021/2022, compared to its previous projection of 5.6%. However, Egypt is targeting a GDP growth of 5.7% for FY 2021/2022. (Bloomberg)
The value of import transactions executed through Egyptian banks reached 7.4 billion USD in the period starting from March 8th until April 7th, according to the Middle East News Agency (MENA).
The number of the transactions stood at 34,500 in the aforementioned period. They added that the industrial sector accounted for more than 66% of total import transactions, at a value of around 5 billion USD. In February, the CBE introduced a new policy requiring importers to present a set of documents to banks for their transactions. (Zawya)
Moreover, Egypt is keen on maintaining its strategy to keep a minimum reserve of food commodities for six months and to increase distribution outlets, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on April 21st, citing Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali Moselhi.
Moselhi highlighted the importance of the silos project to preserve the inventory of food commodities. Egypt’s strategy for maintaining food supplies is to keep the minimum reserve and upgrade the distribution system of commodities across the country, Moselhi said. (Zawya)
Egypt’s Public Treasury and Mint Authority has offered 10 million EGP worth of coins with Egyptian designs in appreciation of national identity, Head of the authority Hossam Khedr.
Accordingly, the authority has issued 1 EGP and 0.50 EGP coins at a value of 4 million EGP to mark the 90th anniversary of EgyptAir Holding Company, in addition to untradable commemorative gold and silver coins, Khedr added. The authority also offered 6 million EGP of 1 EGP and 0.50 EGP coins for the 150th anniversary of the National Library and Archives. On March 30th, Khedr stated that Egypt’s reserve of coins is sufficient for a year and a half. (Mubasher)
And for our EGX and companies talks, Egypt’s food and snacks company AUF, the owner of Abu Auf brand, has postponed plans for the initial public offering (IPO) of 49% of its shares on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) at an estimated value of 2.5 billion EGP to the second half (H2) of 2022, according to the Chairman Ahmed Auf.
The present moment is not the best time for the offering; therefore, we will postpone it to the third quarter at least, Auf said. He also revealed that his company will open its first branch in the UAE by the end of Ramadan, with plans to bring the number of branches in the GCC country to five by the end of 2022. The UAE will be the gate through which the company will enter the rest of the GCC markets, the chairman added, noting that Abu Auf is set to enter the Saudi market early 2023. (Asharq Business)
e-finance for Digital and Financial Investments (EFIH) has submitted documents to the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) to list the increase in issued capital on the stock market.
The company seeks to increase its issued capital to 924.44 million EGP from 888.88 million EGP by 35.55 million EGP distributed over 71.11 million shares at a nominal value of 0.50 EGP per share. The capital hike is set to be financed from the company’s retained earnings as per the 2021 financial statements. The increase will be allocated for the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The submitted documents are currently being reviewed by the EGX. (EGX)
Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH) (IDHC) reported a 137.8% year-on-year (YoY) surge in consolidated net profit attributable to the parent company for the full year ended December 31st 2021.
Consolidated net profit attributable to the parent company grew to 1.41 billion EGP in 2021 from 594.01 million EGP in 2020. The company recorded consolidated revenue of 5.22 billion EGP in 2021, up from 2.65 billion EGP in 2020. Meanwhile, the company’s standalone net profit after tax fell to 24.13 million USD in 2021 from 26.91 million USD in 2020. (EGX)
Palm Hills Development Company (PHDC) has raised its stake in International Company for Leasing (Incolease) (ICLE) to 18.236% from 15.36%.
As per the acquisition transaction, Plam Hills has purchased around 576,001 million shares in Incolease at a total value of 23.616 million EGP, equivalent to an average price of 41 EGP per share. (EGX)