*Key news articles for today*
 
Egypt plans to “present a comprehensive vision for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in a manner that ensures the Palestinian people remain in their homeland and aligns with their legitimate and legal rights.

Two consortiums of international energy players are set to invest a total of USD130 million over the next five to eight years in drilling 10 oil and gas exploration wells in East Port Said and the Western Desert.

US oil producer Apache is set to kick off a USD60 million drilling program in its Western Desert blocks in March as it looks to ramp up natural gas production by a daily 80 million cubic feet. The project is reportedly part of a wider five-year plan by the company to invest USD3.5 billion in exploration, research, and production in the Western Desert.

Spanish medical consultancy WHM is looking into setting up a USD1.8 billion healthcare data center in Egypt through a consortium of investors and in partnership with the CIT Ministry. 

The Suez Canal’s EGP9 billion southern expansion has been completed. The 10 km expansion will improve navigation through the canal by 28%.

Egypt is moving forward with plans to set up two industrial zones in Libya with investments of USD250 million, with 22 local players have already expressed interest in setting up shop in the new zones and more are expected to follow in their footsteps.

The government plans to increase domestic wheat purchases from farmers by around 11% y-o-y to 4 million tons during the harvest season starting mid-April.

The House of Representatives approved the agreement concluded between the Egyptian government and the French Development Agency, providing a loan worth EUR70 million and a grant of EUR800k for the project to establish the Al-Rubiki - 10th of Ramadan – Belbeis railway.

Sky Tower for Real Estate Development, in which EMFD holds a stake, signed a partnership agreement with Golden Coast for Hotels, Resorts, and Entertainment Projects to develop a fully-integrated tourism project on the Red Sea.

BTFH signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a majority stake in Baobab Group.

FRA issued new regulations on insurance companies' investments, giving them sixmonths to meet the new requirements. 

•             They will need to invest at least 5% of their free funds in open-ended funds that invest in EGX-listed equities. 

•             They will also invest at least 2.5% of their paid-up capital in open-ended funds that invest in EGX-listed stocks.

•             New investments cannot exceed 30% of their total funds allocated for investment.
 
 •             Personal insurance companies can invest up to 10% of their investment-allocated funds in real estate investment funds.