Increase in the capacity of hotels, cinemas, and restaurants to 70% instead of 50%

Newsletter

06 Jul 2021

The Supreme Committee for the Management of the coronavirus crisis agreed to increase the capacity of hotels, cinemas, and restaurants to 70% instead of 50%. This decision is backed by starting the production process of 1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine. Noting that the country has currently been witnessing a decline in the number of COVID-19 cases officially registered in the past four weeks.

Moving to Egypt sector talks, Apache plans to inject more investments in the coming period with the aim of intensifying drilling activities and increasing production.
It is worth mentioning that the energy giant’s interest in expanding its activities in the petroleum exploration and production sector confirms that the Western Desert still has promising petroleum prospects. In addition, regarding the real estate sector, Zodiac Development revealed that its investments in the market reached EGP 5 bn, with plans to be increased in Q1-2022.
On the other hand, the Coronavirus crisis and the repercussions of the drop in fiber prices ravaged the area of flax planted in Egypt, as it declined from 24,000 acres in 2020 to 6000 acres in 2021 by 75%, despite the importance of the flax crop to industry in Egypt in the textile, oil and wood sector.
We believe it is promising now that fiber prices have started to rise to about 40 EGP per ton, and in the event that global trade between countries returns to its previous era, fiber prices may return to what they were before the Corona pandemic, and here we must clarify that Coronavirus is not the same.
In other news, EFG Hermes Kenya, the Kenyan stockbroker, launched EFG Hermes One, an electronic trading platform that will provide retail investors with a unique trading experience on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE).
It is worth noting that EFG Hermes Kenya seeks to maximize the benefit from the high penetration rate of mobile phone usage in Kenya and the diversity of digital channels to provide an integrated package of services that are efficient and easy to use in order to meet the needs of investors.
By the same token, Cairo-headquartered B2B ecommerce platform Maxab has closed USD 40 mn in a Series A round led by RMBV, a North Africa-focused impact investor. The deal takes Maxab’s total investment to date to over USD 45 mn, making it one of the best-funded startups in Egypt.
It is worthy to highlight that the coronavirus crisis has highlighted the unique structure of Egypt’s economy, with hundreds of thousands of shopkeepers and small businesses becoming the lifeline of our country at the time of crisis. Here comes the great role of Maxab by backing visionary entrepreneurs that have created a transformative business with impressive growth that is a catalyst for financial inclusion and job creation.
Moreover, Compass Capital for Financial Investments has made a higher offer to acquire 90% of Alexandria National Company for Financial Investments (ANFI).
Raising the offer to EGP 6.12 per share instead of EGP 5.72 per share. The new offer values ANFI’s 5.22 mn shares at nearly EGP 32 mn. It is worth noting that compass’ higher bid came after Zeta raised its own per-share price to EGP 6.00 per share from EGP 5.48.
Finally, regards the big talks abroad, UAE is against the world in the OPEC+ meeting. The UAE has pushed back on OPEC+ leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia, claiming its “sovereign right” to negotiate fairer terms for an oil production increase.
The UAE asked to remove production quotas, but afterward suggested a short-term allowance for output increases. It is now expected that the oil-producing countries will agree to gradual production increases in the coming months as well as the extension of the OPEC+ accord from April to December 2022. They are focusing on raising output from August, partly to help cool oil prices trading at 2-1/2-year highs, with Brent around USD 76 on Monday. Those prices are prompting concerns about inflation derailing a global recovery from the pandemic.