Pre-Trading Thoughts

Al Ahly Pharos

The Prime Minister announced the approval of new 11% subsidized loans for industry and agriculture.

Current backlog of imported goods at ports stands at some USD5.3 billion, of which USD 3 billion is pending documents from importers rather than hard currency to be released.

Egypt’s total exports grew by 20% YoY in 2022 to register USD53.8 billion, while non-oil imports remained unchanged at around USD80 billion.

Planning Minister expects that Egypt could raise some USD2-2.5 billion through strategic stake sales in 1H23 ahead of listing state-owned companies on EGX.

Planning Minister said that inflation is expected to fall during the second half of the year to between 7-9% by the end of 2023.

Fitch Solutions forecasts Egypt tourism revenue to reach USD13.6 billion this year, up 17.7% from 2022.

ESRS raised the price of rebars by EGP1,000/ton to EGP26,985/ton (including VAT) as of January 18, 2023. The announced price is 4% higher than the EGP25,985/ton on January 11, 2023, and 32% higher than the EGP20,450/ton at the beginning of December.

Egypt Education Platform acquired a majority stake comprising 71.4 million shares in Selah El Telmeez for EGP646 million. EEP is owned by EFG Hermes and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt.

Real estate industry players are asking for state support such as favorable lending terms, loosened rules for delivery time, favorable land repayment terms, measures to increase companies' ability to sell properties to foreigners in foreign currency, and financing solutions to make it easier for homebuyers to purchase properties.

A planned tender for a 20-MW solar plant in Hurghada has been postponed to February 22 from January 23, so bidders can reassess their figures following the recent volatility in the USD-EGP exchange rate.

The Ministry of Electricity received an offer from a Greek company to launch electricity generation projects through clean and renewable sources, and to establish an electrical interconnection line to export the produced energy to Athens at a later stage, with total investments amounting to about USD4 billion.

Chemicals and fertilizers exports increased by 30% YoY to USD8.5 billion in 2022. The Chemicals Export Council targets growing the sector’s exports by another 15-20% during 2023.

Global oil demand is set to rise by 1.9 mb/d in 2023 to a record 101.7 mb/d, with nearly half the gain from China following the lifting of its Covid restrictions.