The headline seasonally adjusted S&P Global Egypt Purchasing Managers’, an indicator of the performance of the non-oil private sector, hit 46.5 points in March
For our top talks today, first, the headline seasonally adjusted S&P Global Egypt Purchasing Managers’ (PMI), an indicator of the performance of the non-oil private sector, hit 46.5 points in March, down from 48.1 points in February, marking the highest decline since June 2020, data collected in S&P Global Egypt PMI’s survey showed. Egypt’s non-oil sector was greatly impacted by additional pressures of inflation on energy, food, and raw material, as the Russian-Ukrainian war continues to weigh on the economy, leading to a drop in output. Egypt’s non-oil companies recorded lowest output, new orders, and stocks levels since the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020, which was the result of lower demands caused by inflated prices. The devaluation of the EGP in March pushed up import costs which led to inflated purchase prices (investment costs) for businesses. To tackle the increase in prices and the decline in demand, Egyptian companies reduced their purchases at the end of the first quarter of 2022. Inventories registered lowest level since May 2020. (Arab Finance)
- Second, Egyptian exports of food industries rose by 3% year-on-year (YoY) during the first two months of 2022, according to the Head of the Food Export Council Hani Berzi.
The exports recorded 625 million USD in January and February, compared to 609 million USD in the same period of 2020, Berzi highlighted. In January, food industries exports were valued at 300 million USD, rising by 12% from 267 million USD in the same month of 2020. On the other hand, exports dropped by 5% in February to 326 million USD, as compared to 342 million USD in February 2020. Saudi Arabia was the top importer of Egyptian food industries during the January-February period of 2021, with exports worth 60 million USD, followed by Sudan which imported 52 million USD exports. Meanwhile, the US came in third place, importing 34 million USD of Egyptian food industries, followed by Libya and Alegria with exports worth 31 million USD and 29 million USD, respectively. (Al Mal)
- Next, Egypt’s public treasury transferred EGP 465.4 billion to the National Organization for Social Insurance (NOSI) in 33 months under the presidential directives to settle financial conflicts, according to the Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait.
The total amount transferred to the Insurance and Pension Fund will reach EGP 510.5 billion by the end of June. Around 190.5 billion EGP were allocated to NOSI in the budget of the fiscal year 2021/2022 which will help raise the annual increase in pensions by 13% at a minimum of 120 EGP as of April 1st. The minister announced that since July 2019, the public treasury has paid around 1.363 trillion EGP to NOSI. NOSI will receive about 45 trillion EGP in 50 years through the agreement with the Ministry of Finance for settlement of financial conflicts in 2019. (Arab Finance)
- On the other hand, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) was ranked first in Bloomberg’s African syndicated loans league table for the first quarter (Q1) of 2022.
Accordingly, the NBE topped banks in Africa as a financing agent, lead manager, and promoter of syndicated loans. The state-owned bank came in second place as a lead manager, and acquired the third spot as a financing agent in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. (Arab Finance)
- Most importantly, the Central Bank of Lebanon Governor Riad Salameh denied on Monday the bankruptcy of the bank he has led for 30 years, and said that the bank is still continuing to perform its role entrusted to it by law despite the financial sector's losses.
The governor's comments came in a statement apparently in response to the deputy prime minister, who said on Sunday that both the state and the central bank had gone bankrupt. Lebanon is going through a third year of financial collapse caused by decades of corruption and bad policies that have led to the currency losing more than 90% of its value, and banks have prevented most savers from accessing hard currency accounts. A draft government bailout plan earlier this year estimated a gap of about 70 billion USD in the financial sector. (Al Mal)
- Moving to our EGX and companies talks, National Bank of Egypt (NBE) signed an agreement with Saudi Arabian fintech and e-payment firm Geidea on April 4th to deploy up-to-date e-payment services through points of sale (POS) and e-commerce.
Under the agreement, Geidea will provide NBE with latest payment services via all types of smart cards and through QR code. Geidea will make integrated e-payment services available to merchandisers and various types of companies. (Al Mal)
- Moreover, Banque Misr and National Bank of Egypt (NBE) have collected EGP 423 billion in two weeks through sales of their certificates of deposits with annual return of 18%.
Banque Misr attracted 138 billion EGP in proceeds from its Talaat Harb certificates in two weeks, according to the bank’s Chairman Mohamed El-Etreby revealed. Meanwhile, NBE generated 285 billion EGP in sales of its certificates of deposits with %18 annual return, NBE’s Deputy Chairman Yehia Aboulfotouh said. (the Middle East News Agency (MENA))
- In addition, Banque du Caire (BDC) (BQDC) has decided to boost its investment in Cairo Bank Uganda to 20.2 million USD, according to the Head of Investments Mohamed Ragai.
The bank has increased Cairo Bank Uganda’s capital of 19.4 million USD by 800,000 USD, Ragai said. Moreover, he pointed out that BDC is currently considering raising the capital of a subsidiary operating in the security services sector. In 2019, the board of directors of BDC approved the establishment of a company specializing in security and guard services, with 5 million EGP in seed capital. Total investment portfolio of BDC jumped by 800 million EGP to reach 3 billion EGP in 2021, compared to 2.2 billion EGP at the end of December 2020.
- It is noteworthy that the growth in the investment portfolio was driven by diversified sources, including pumping cash into some companies and purchasing blue-chip stocks in the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) in 2021, he noted.
The bank has also invested in investment funds such as Nclude and Avance, Ragai said. Nclude has been recently launched by Banque Misr, National Bank of Egypt (NBE), BDC, and Global Ventures after receiving the approval of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). BDC, the 99.9%-owned by Egypt's second-largest state-owned bank Banque Misr, is the sixth-largest bank in Egypt in terms of total assets, acquiring a 3% market share in system-wide loans and deposits. The bank also has the third-biggest customer base, with over 3 million customers.
- Pyramisa Hotels and Resorts (PHTV) will pay dividends worth 21 million EGP, equivalent to 1 EGP per share.
The decision came during the company's ordinary general meeting (OGM), which nodded the board of directors’ proposal of distributing cash dividends to shareholders for the full year ended December 31st 2021. (EGX)
- The board of directors of Arabian Food Industries Company (Domty) (DOMT) has approved Expedition Investments to conduct due diligence on Domty’s stock.
This comes after the board has reviewed the binding offer submitted by Expedition Investments to acquire up to 90% stake in Domty. On April 3rd, Domty announced receiving a non-binding offer from Expedition Investments to purchase up to 90% of Domty’s capital. The potential buyer intends to purchase the majority stake in Domty at an initial price of 5 EGP per share. It is worth noting that Domty posted a consolidated net profit attributable to the parent company of 72.42 million EGP in 2021, down from 157.96 million EGP in 2020. (EGX)
Stay up to date
More Newsletter to Check
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to download our daily economics and business roundup
×
![]()