The IMF’s Executive Board is to sign off on Egypt’s fourth review “in the coming weeks,” IMF Communications Director Julie Kozack said in a briefing to the press. The meeting will also see the board look into a set of fresh funds under the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility.

BP’s recent discovery at its King Mariout offshore concession could hold up to 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to early estimates cited by two unnamed government officials that spoke to Asharq Business.  

The Industry Ministry has allocated 30 million sqm in Ras El Hekma for an industrial zone, Industry Ministry Kamel El Wazir said, adding that the Ministry is working on setting up three other zones across the country, in Borg El Arab, New Alamein, and Matrouh. The government has also broken ground on the Ras El Hekma airport.

According to the Minister of Finance, Egypt will launch a customs facilitation package within weeks to increase competitiveness and ease of goods release, in addition to launching a facilitation package related to real estate tax before the end of this year.

Trade balance deficit rose 0.5% y/y to USD3.7 billion in November 2024.

The EGX and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are working together on a project to boost market liquidity in the EGX. 

The National Wages Council will meet later today to discuss the minimum wage for the private sector.

The Finance Ministry is considering issuing a bookkeeping scheme to account for the FX rate difference between the official and parallel markets for profit earned before the Central Bank of Egypt liberalized the exchange rate in March 2024, with the Ministry currently preparing tax budgets for the upcoming corporate tax filing season, which ends on 30 April.

COMI has cut interest rates on its local currency, high-yield CDs by 3 percentage points.  

Emirati and Kuwaiti financial institutions have begun due diligence to acquire at least 60% of Banque du Caire (BdC). 

The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has raised the borrowing limit for micro enterprises by 10% to EGP266k.  

ORAS's Orascom Industrial Parks is setting up a 3.5 million sqm industrial zone in Ain Sokhna with projected investments of EGP7 billion over the next ten years. 

Egypt plans to increase its aluminum production by 200k tons annually within three years, bringing total production to 510k tons, according to Minister of Public Enterprises. This expansion aims to meet domestic market needs and export the surplus. The Minister added that a new project is underway with the private sector to establish a new aluminum plant with modern furnaces, with a production capacity of 600k tons per year.

The Ministry of Public Enterprises is developing EGCH with investments of USD400 million within three years. The development will include the production of nitrates, which will add value to the products.

French pharma giant Servier’s Egypt arm has inaugurated a new packaging and filling line at its 6th of October facility. With this expansion, Servier’s total investments in Egypt reaches EGP1.6 billion.