Pre-Trading Thoughts

Al Ahly Pharos

• The Cabinet has discussed the legislative amendments proposed on the capital gains tax with some government and industry stakeholders including FRA and ECMA heads.
• The Solar Energy Development Association (SEDA) are lobbying to scrap a newly-imposed 5% import tariff on solar panels, requesting that the Ministry of Electricity cancel the duty which was introduced in November.
• The exports of the chemical and fertilizer industries sector jumped by 43% during 2021, recording USD6.6 billion, compared to USD4.1 billion in 2020.
• The parliament provisionally approved a new "General Unified Planning" Law that aims to streamline the process of preparing the country's economic policies and engage the private sector in economic development projects.
• The Minister of Finance announced the payment of EGP420.5 billion to the National Authority for Social Insurance during 30 months.
• PHAR (FV: EGP70.00, OW) announced obtaining the approval of the Egyptian Drug Authority to start the production of the “Covapravir” drug used to treat Covid, after obtaining an emergency license to manufacture it in Egypt.
• EGCH “Kima” will sign on January 11, a gas supply agreement with Air Supply Group for the purchase, construction, management and operation of factories for the production of industrial and medical gases for Kima in Aswan.
• GB Lease, the leasing arm of GB Auto, has completed the sale of EGP4.3 bn securitized bonds to investors. It is worth mentioning that, this is the company’s first issuance in a year.
• The government is in talks with two Chinese companies to partner with El Nasr Automotive to produce electric cars in Egypt. The government hopes to finalize terms later this month and sign final contracts by March. The talks come after negotiations with Chinese auto firm Dongfeng collapsed in November.
• AIH’s consumer finance subsidiary “Rawaj” issued securitization bonds in cooperation with Misr Capital. The value of the offering amounted to EGP305 million, with a nominal value of EGP100 per bond.
• The volume of the Islamic banking sector in Egypt amounted to EGP347 billion as of June 2020, and it's expected to exceed EGP500 billion as of June 2022 (an increase of 44%). Deposits under increased by 10% y/y as of June 2021 to settle at EGP321.7 billion which represents 7% of the total deposits of the Egyptian banking sector. While financing increased by 9% as of June 2021 to reach EGP296 billion which represents 5.4% of the Egyptian banking sector.