Egypt has signed a 1.5 billion USD agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation

Newsletter

17 Feb 2022

For our top talks today, Egypt has signed a 1.5 billion USD agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) to finance imports of petroleum and basic commodities, according to the CEO of the ITFC Hani Sonbol. The financing includes an amount of 800 million USD for petroleum imports and 700 million USD for basic commodities. The newly signed agreement will bring the corporation’s total funds in Egypt since its establishment to 14.5 billion USD. The ITFC provides funds ranging between $6 billion and $7 billion annually to help Egypt double its exports. In 2021, Egypt received financings worth 2.7 billion USD from the ITFC. (Bloomberg Asharq)

Israel is set to raise its natural gas exports to Egypt by up to 50% by the end of February, according to Israeli Minister of Energy and Water Karine Elharrar.
Chevron Corp and Delek Drilling, the two companies owning Israel’s largest offshore gas reservoirs of Tamar and Leviathan, will boost their gas exports to Egypt by 2 to 2.5 billion cubic meters per year. The additional quantities will be piped to Egypt through Jordan while work continues to expand the potential volume in the route that services the 15 billion USD contract signed in 2018, she noted. Egypt currently imports 5 billion cubic meters annually from Israel via a pipeline that links southern Israel to the Sinai Peninsula, with Israel targeting a capacity of 6.5 billion cubic meters by 2023. (Bloomberg)
The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will not back down on the new organizing policy for imports, CBE’s governor Tarek Amer.
Amer urged businessmen to comply with the new policy and not to waste time in a discussion that will not lead to a stability in internal trade. Early this week, a group of Egyptian importers, represented by the Federation of Egyptian Chamber of Commerce (FECC), the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), and Egyptian Businessmen’s Association (EBA), have sent a letter to the Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly objecting the CBE’s decision regarding collection documents. It is worth noting that the new CBE policy requires importers to present a set of documents to banks for their transactions. (Middle East News Agency (MENA))
Egypt’s unemployment rate inched down to 7.4% during the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021, compared to 7.5% in the previous quarter.
Quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), the unemployment rate in Q4 2021 edged up 0.2%, compared to 7.2% in the last quarter of 2020. Total labor force grew 0.9% to register 29.653 million in Q4 2021, from 29.380 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Labor force in urban areas reached 13.234 million, while it hit 16.419 million in rural areas. In terms of gender, data highlighted that 24.487 million of Egyptian labor force were males, while only 5.166 million were females. Meanwhile, the number of the unemployed reached 2.20 million in the last quarter of 2021, accounting for 7.4% of the labor force, down 0.5% from 2.211 million in the previous quarter and up 1.6% from Q4 2020. (CAPMAS)
Talking green, Lafarge Egypt, a member of Holcim Group, is planning to carry out its efforts in supporting green economy in line with aspiring climate goals for 2030.
The company aims at spreading its global knowledge in manufacturing the finest cement as per environmental sustainability. Lafarge is keen on promoting the diversification of energy resources from alternative fuels derived from waste, by-products, and biomass. The company has uses 20% of alternative fuels now, and it plans to bring this rate to 50% in the near future. (Arab Finance)
Also, EGIKE Micromobilities is set to build its first factory for bicycles production with total investments of around EGP 20 million in 2022, according to the company’s founder Montaser El Attar.
EGIKE is planning to contact a group of domestic and foreign financing institutions that support ecofriendly projects and green economies to secure 1 million USD funding. This amount will be directed towards the company’s expansion plan and the construction of the new factory. EGIKE is seeking to launch its first version of smart bicycles in the local market during the second half (H2) of 2022. Moreover, the manufacturing of the new bicycles is underway in the military production factories and around 5,000 units will be produced this year. (Al-Mal)
Moving to our EGX and companies talks, the Egyptian fintech startup MoneyHash has raised 3 million USD in a pre-seed funding round.
The round has been led by UAE’s COTU Ventures, with the participation of Venture Souq and Venture Friends. Nuwa Capital, The Continent Venture Partners, First Check Africa, Fox Ventures, Kepple Africa Ventures, and Lofty Capital Inc have been also among the participants in the funding round. Moreover, a global group of angel investors participated in the round, including NerdWallet’s Tim Chen and Jake Gibson, Belvo’s Oriol Tintore, and regional operators such as Huspy’s Jad Antoun, Baraka’s Feras Jalbout, and Sakneen’s Hussein Elkheshen. The startup also announced moving out from beta to launching its platform across the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. (Arab Finance)
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is currently mulling over the offering of two or three affiliated companies on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX),
including Canal Robes and Canal Harbor, according to the Chairman of SCA Osama Rabie. The authority is considering to float a 20% stake in each company. Regarding the SCA’s investment fund, he expected its capital to reach 100 billion EGP over the coming five years, as compared to 1 billion EGP in seed capital. The Egyptian Parliament is set to approve the establishment of this fund in March. Moreover, he noted that the SCA targets deepening the canal to 72 feet within a period ranging between a year and a half and two years after developing the south area of the canal which is set for completion in June 2023. The authority is also considering providing incentives of 10% to 15% to eco-friendly ships that cross the Suez Canal. (CNBC Arabia)
Arabia Investments Holding’s (AIH) board of directors has approved to offer its subsidiary Arabia International Contracting (AIC) as investments for sale.
The board accepted an offer presented by Zarkana for Legal Consultancy to pave the way for the initiation of study for selling investments in AIC, the statement revealed. Members of the board also approved forming an agreement with an independent financial consultant to determine the fair value (FV) for the deal. AIH, formerly Arabia Investments Development Financial Investments Holding Company, is an Egypt-based company that invests in fields such as power, building materials, automotive, and oil and gas. (EGX)
Speed Medical Company (SPMD) registered a spike in consolidated profits during the full year 2021.
The company’s consolidated net profits attributable to the parent company jumped to 136.101 million EGP in 2021, compared to 79.209 million EGP in the year before. Standalone results showed a surge in Speed Medical’s net profits after taxes last year, logging 137.482 million EGP, versus 79.209 million EGP in 2020. (EGX)
Juhayna Food Industries (JUFO) posted a consolidated net profit attributable to the parent company of 316.10 million EGP for the first half of 2021.
It is worth noting that the company’s consolidated net profit excluding minority interest for the January-June period of 2020 recorded 231.65 million EGP. Net consolidated revenue reached 4.08 billion EGP during the six-month period ended June 30th 2021, compared to 3.64 billion EGP in the first six months of 2020. In the second quarter (Q2) of 2021, consolidated net profit attributable to the parent company grew to 193.001 million EGP from 118.06 million EGP in Q2 2020. (EGX)
Palm Hills Development Company’s (PHDC) board of directors (BoD) has approved financing Badya project by the issuance of Sharia-compliant sukuk worth of 3.251 billion EGP through Sarwa Sukuk Company.
The board also approved a disclosure form for a capital reduction through writing off 40.654 million treasury shares, the statement revealed. Members also consented on opening an account at the Arab African International Bank (AAIB) in the UAE. In January, CFO of Contact Financial Holding (CNFN) Ayman Elsawy said that Sarwa Sukuk Company is getting ready to offer a multi-issuance sukuk program worth 3 billion EGP for Palm Hills Development in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022. On February 15th, Palm Hills Development announced it reported a 35% year-on-year increase in new sales during 2021, marking its highest growth in history. (EGX)