Nassef Sawiris to "Al-Sharq": We must open up to fully float the Egyptian pound | Zilla Capital

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04 Dec 2022

Nassef Sawiris to “Al-Sharq”: We must open up to fully float the Egyptian pound

Nassef Sawiris to “Al-Sharq”: We must open up to fully float the Egyptian pound. The founder and main shareholder of Orascom Construction, confirmed that Egypt must quickly overcome the current pressures. The Central Bank of Egypt approved the adoption of a flexible exchange rate for the pound against foreign currencies in October, based on the mechanism of supply and demand in the market, which prompted the dollar to rise by about 25% in a month to 24.6 pounds, jumping 57% since last March. (Asharq Business)

Sawiris indicated that all emerging markets, not just Egypt, are exposed to shocks resulting from global conditions and the rise in the US interest rate
He advised investing in Egyptian certificates of deposit with a high return of 18%, as they are "safe", while the stock market is "not for everyone". In a report issued this week, the Japanese Bank "Nomura" considered that Egypt is among the emerging markets most vulnerable to a currency crisis during the next year. Whereas, HSBC estimated that the price of the Egyptian currency would move to 26 pounds against the dollar. (Asharq Business)
Nassef believes that the Egyptian economy is "full of opportunities, and one of the most prominent and fastest growing ones is tourism
Also, for the recent investment focus, renewable energy sector has a comparative advantage in Egypt, he says, particularly in wind power. A week before the start of the COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, a consortium comprising Orascom Construction, Japan's Toyota, and France's Engie announced a project for a new wind power plant with an initial capacity of 500 megawatts in the Ras Ghareb region near the Red Sea, provided that the final capacity reaches for the project upon completion to 3 GW. (Asharq Business)
The Contracts to build out the first 21 desalination plants under the first phase of the Sisi administration’s multi-bn water desalination program will be awarded next year
Sovereign Fund of Egypt CEO Ayman Soliman said. Soliman put the value of the first phase of the program at 3 billion USD, saying that the full program’s price tag is expected at some 8 billion USD. The first phase of the program has already drawn interest from north of 200 potential international investors. The program will include several plants in locations on Egypt’s Red Sea and Mediterranean coasts to help give us sufficient water to keep up with population growth over the next 50 years. (Reuters)
AMEA Power gets funding to build 1 GW of renewable energy plants in Egypt
Al Nowais subsidiary AMEA Power has locked in 1.1 billion USD in debt and equity for a 500 MW solar plant and 500 MW wind farm in Egypt, according to a cabinet statement. AMEA Power will build, manage, and operate the two plants. The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), Dutch development bank FMO, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are collectively providing 500 million USD for the solar plant. Meanwhile, the 800 million USD wind farm is receiving 500 million USD from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation, the IFC, and three commercial banks — Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank — covered in ins. by Nippon Export Investment Ins.. (Arab Finance)
AMEA Power is also getting in on our green ammonia industry
AMEA Power put pen to paper at COP27 for a 390k-ton per-year green ammonia plant that could be up and running by the end of 2025 at its 500 MW green hydrogen plant in Ain Sokhna. The government managed to secure some 10.3 billion USD worth of climate funding agreements at COP27 for its flagship Nexus on Water, Food and Energy (NWFE) program, which seeks to implement some 15 billion USD worth of projects to turbocharge the country’s green transition. The government will also be looking to drum up a whopping 119 billion USD to fund green hydrogen and wind power projects on which it signed initial agreements at the climate summit. (Reuters)
UAE’s Agthia is now the majority owner of Abu Auf
Emirati food and beverage major Agthia has completed its acquisition of a 60% stake in Egyptian food company Auf Group. The stake was sold by three members of the Auf family as well as Tanmiya Capital Ventures (TCV), leaving the three founders with a combined 30%, while TCV holds the remaining 10% stake. The transaction values Auf Group at some 4.9 billion EGP. Agthia, which is majority-owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign fund ADQ, approved the transaction in July. The Auf Group had as recently as April been eyeing an IPO on the EGX, but Agthia’s F&B experience in the region made the acquisition route the more attractive choice. The company plans to invest in Gulf expansion post-acquisition. (Hapi Journal)
Haj Arafa wants to export Siwa dates to Africa and Asia
Natural food and cosmetics maker Haj Arafa plans to build a date packaging factory in Siwa Oasis with investments of more than 100 million EGP within the next year, citing company CEO Mohamed Arafa Al Attar. The company will look to export the dates to African and Asian markets. (Al Borsa News)
EGX-listed e-payments giant Fawry is planning to begin operating in Kuwait in 2023, with legal procedures currently underway
This will be the second international market outside Egypt where Fawry will have a presence, after it acquired an undisclosed minority stake in Sudan’s largest online classifieds platform and marketplace Alsoug in October last year. The investment was part of a 5 million USD funding round co-led by Fawry and aimed at building out Alsoug’s fintech platform Cashi and developing its payments infrastructure. (Al Mal)
EGX-listed education outfit CIRA Education reported 389.6 million EGP in adjusted net income in FY 2021/2022, up 16% y-o-y
CIRA Education’s fiscal year runs from September-August. The company’s revenues rose 19% y-o-y during the fiscal year to EGP 1.7 bn on increased enrollments in its higher education and K-12 segments. CIRA Education’s K-12 segment saw 8% y-o-y growth in enrollment rates, while enrollment at its universities rose 6% y-o-y. Cairo Egypt for Education, a JV between CIRA Education and Elsewedy Capital, has also broken ground on two new schools in Cosmic Village: FuturesTech and Regent British School. Both are also expected to launch in September 2023. In the pre-K segment, CIRA Education has plans to operate 10 nurseries by the end of the upcoming academic year. (Hapi Journal)
The Madbouly cabinet approved the executive regulations for the Water Resources Act in its last weekly meeting
The regulations lay out the details of the Water Resources Act, which was signed into law in October 2021 after years of back and forth between legislators.The bill aims to regulate how we use our water resources in light of threats to supply, including from climate change and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. It includes regulations on groundwater management and storage, provisions against acts of vandalism near coasts, modernizing the irrigation system, and fees for pumping stations on the Nile and canals. (Arab Finance)
Ministry of Supply offers 10k tons of wheat on EMX
The Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade announced offering 10,000 tons of Russian wheat to private mills at 9,750 EGP per ton through the Egyptian Mercantile Exchange (EMX). A number of 17 transactions were conducted. A total of 31 orders were received with a total amount of 21,116.72 tons at an average price of 9,766.67 EGP per ton. The EMX is set to hold its third session today, Sunday, December 4th. It is worth noting that the debut of the EMX was successful and the offered amount of wheat was 200% oversubscribed.
29 multinational companies to open headquarters in Egypt
The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) signed agreements and contracts with 29 multinational companies including IBM Egypt, Amazon, and Microsoft to open new headquarters in Egypt and increase their investment in the country. The 29 companies include 21 companies expanding their outsourcing activities and eight companies initiating their outsourcing activity, Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Amr Talaat, stated. Talaat added that these companies are expected to add around 1 billion USD in annual export revenues to Egypt’s total digital exports by 2025. (Arab Finance)