Egypt’s Energy Regulatory Authority and the British Office of Gas and Electricity Markets have signed a joint statement of intent for cooperation in reforming renewable energy regulations

Newsletter

07 Jul 2022

Egypt’s Energy Regulatory Authority and the British Office of Gas and Electricity Markets have signed a joint statement of intent for cooperation in reforming renewable energy regulations

Egypt’s Energy Regulatory Authority (EERA) and the British Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) have signed a joint statement of intent for cooperation in reforming renewable energy regulations. Cooperation between the two countries has been successful and comprised a series of milestones including the two-line Cairo Monorail project and the opening of a new 66 megawatts (MW) solar farm with 80 million USD worth of investments. The fruitful cooperation between London and Cairo also included the finalization of a 100 million USD acquisition of Alfa Medical Group by the British Investment International (BII) and an investment of 325 million USD for the launch of the Lekela wind farm. (Arab Finance)

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has officially launched the Digital Egypt platform which offers online services for all Egyptians.
El-Sisi said that having faith in the importance of building a modern digital country and to ensure facilitation of online services for all factions of Egyptians, he launched Digital Egypt. El-Sisi is also inaugurating on Wednesday a series of information technology projects through video conference. (Arab Finance)
The Central Bank of Egypt has issued around EGP 2 billion of its new plastic EGP 10 which were offered at banks as of July 5th, the Middle East News Agency reported.
ATMs across Egypt have been modified to be compatible with withdrawals and deposits in the new plastic currency, the source added. The amount of the new currency will be increased in the next period and the old EGP 10 notes are still tradable, he added. (Arab Finance)
The Egyptian non-oil sector recorded its lowest level in two years in June on the heels of declined demand, inflation, EGP devaluation, and material shortage.
The headline seasonally adjusted S&P Global Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) – a composite gauge designed to give a single-figure snapshot of operating conditions in the non-oil private sector economy – slipped to 45.2 in June from 47.0 in May. The PMI survey’s data showed the increase in input costs accelerated to a four-year high, pushing up inflation. In June, both the PMI’s output and new order indices fell, hitting the lowest level since the second quarter of 2020. Sales were the weakest in the manufacturing and wholesale and retail sectors, while the construction sector stabilized, as new orders and input in the sector inched up. (Arab Finance)
Moreover, 45% of surveyed companies reported an increase in their expenses which was reflective of a considerable rise in input costs.
Businesses, however, were more confident about the outlook for next year, with overall sentiment going up to a five-month high on the back of anticipated recovery. On June 23rd, the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to maintain the overnight deposit rate, overnight lending rate, and the rate of the main operation at 11.25%, 12.25%, and 11.75%, respectively. Earlier in June, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.75 percentage points, marking the largest increase since 1994. (Arab Finance)
The Egyptian economy achieved a growth rate of 6.2% during the fiscal year (FY) 2021/2022 ended in June, according to the Minister of Planning and Economic , Dr. Hala El-Said.
All sectors have achieved positive growth, El-Said added. The minister noted that the State Ownership Policy Document is undergoing a social dialogue in preparation for its actualization. El-Said noted that exiting public sector companies will not be conducted only through sales, but will also include granting usufruct and management rights. Earlier in June, Fitch Solutions expected that growth of the Egyptian economy to slow down to 4.4% in fiscal year (FY) 2022/2023 due to inflation and slow recovery in both public investment and tourism. (CNBC Arabia)
Remittances of expatriate Egyptians grew 7.7% year-on-year (YoY) to 11.1 billion USD during the first four months of 2022.
In April alone, remittances soared 24.4% YoY to 3.1 billion USD from 2.5 billion USD in the same month the year before. As for month-on-month, remittances declined by 7.2% in April from 3.3 billion USD in March. It is worth noting that Egypt was ranked fifth among the world’s top recipients of remittances in 2021 after India, Mexico, China, and the Philippines, according to the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief. (Asharq Business)
Moving to our EGX and companies, Non-banking financial company GlobalCorp has launched Ollin, a B2C lifestyle financing platform with an initial investment of 150 million EGP.
The new platform will serve as a one-stop shop and an all-in platform for consumer financing. Ollin will offer installment programs for auto loans, mortgage, home finishing, education and tuition fees, healthcare, travel, and club memberships. “The launch of the B2C business is another milestone within our strategy of becoming a comprehensive NBFI platform offering the full range of financial products and covering different market segments,” GlobalCorp’s Founder and Group CEO Hatem Samir commented. (EGX)
Naguib Sawiris’s Orascom Holding is mulling over the sale of a minority share or a controlling stake in ItaliaOnline, an Italian web firm, which is one of the holding company's listed assets.
The enterprise value of ItaliaOnline could stand at 400 million EUR (418 million USD) under any deal. Netherlands-based Azerion Group NV has also shown interest in acquiring a stake in the Italian company, but no final decisions have been taken as other options could emerge, they noted. In June, Orascom approved the purchase of 27.5% in ItaliaOnline, the sources mentioned. (Bloomberg)
Orascom Investment Holding (OIH) has denied owning a direct or an indirect stake in Italy’s leading internet services company ItaliaOnline.
The company has also mentioned that it has no relation in regards to the recently published news on Naguib Sawiris’s Orascom Holding’s interest in selling a stake in ItaliaOnline. On July 5th, unnamed informed sources told Bloomberg that Orascom Holding mulls over the sale of a minority share or a controlling stake in the Italian company. OIH, formerly known as Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding, is an Egypt-based holding company engaged in the telecommunications sector. It mainly operates in global systems for mobile communications, media and technology, cable, energy, financial, real estate, and entertainment businesses. (EGX)
The board of directors of Marseilia Almasreia Alkhalegeya for Holding Investment (MAAL) decided not to distribute 1-for-10 bonus shares.
The board also approved the proposal of distributing 3-for-100 stock dividends to shareholders for the year ended December 31st 2021. Moreover, the board endorsed finance lease contracts and transactions done through the chairman. Additionally, the board discussed raising issued and paid-up capital by 3.024 million EGP to 103.824 million EGP from 100.80 million EGP through the issuance of 3-for-100 bonus shares. (EGX)
El Ahram for Printing and Packing (EPPK) widened its net loss after tax by 25.47% year-on-year (YoY) in 2021.
The company incurred a net loss after tax of 12.729 million EGP last year, versus a loss of 10.145 million EGP in 2020. Revenues amounted to 26.33 million EGP in 2021, compared to 51.12 million EGP in 2020. El Ahram for Printing is an Egyptian company engaged in the field of flexible packing since 1993 located in the second industrial zone of Borg El-Arab El-Gideda at Alexandria. (EGX)