Moody’s Ratings has upgraded Egypt’s credit outlook from negative to positive following the country’s successful acquisition of fresh foreign funds.

The Ministry of Finance intends to raise its expectations for interest rates on Treasuries to reach 28.5% in the budget for FY2024-25.

The CBE raised EGP87.8 bn in a one-year t-bill auction on Thursday — receiving offers for almost 3x the amount sold. The bills were sold at an interest rate of 32.3%. International investors bought up USD825 mn (c. EGP 40.7 bn) of the EGP 102 bn-worth of bills sold.

Banks have bought and sold some USD1.9 bn on the interbank market since Wednesday morning, when the central bank unveiled its decision to move to a flexible EGP exchange.

NBE, Banque Misr, CIB, and the Arab African International Bank (AAIB) were among the banks who have revised their monthly credit card FX spending limits after the CBE instructed banks to gradually lift restrictions on credit card FX transactions.

The government signaled that it has the will and the ability to clear the backlog of goods in ports stemming from the FX shortage. 

The IMF said that the CBE is committed to use a large portion of the flows from Ras El Hekma deal to rebuild foreign exchange reserves.

GASC canceled a wheat tender it held last Thursday on high prices, with bid prices rising to between USD226 and USD235 per ton.

We raise our FV for EFIC to EGP89.00/share with an overweight recommendation. EFIC’s BoD proposed the distribution of EGP7/share in cash dividends from 2023 profits, implying a payout ratio of 73%. EFIC is currently trading at a 2024f PE of 4.7x and EV/EBITDA of 3.4x.

MBSC reported 4Q23 and FY23 consolidated financial results, recording a net profit of EGP125.4 million in 4Q23 (-48% YoY, -10% QoQ), bringing FY23 bottom-line to EGP369.1 million reversing last year losses of EGP145.9 million. MBSC is trading at FY24e P/E of 10.8x and EV/EBITDA of 7.8x.

According to local media, The Holding Company for Construction and Development intends to offer an additional stake of HELI on the Egyptian Stock Exchange or to a strategic investor, after completing the company’s development process. The Company received 4 offers for New Heliopolis development.

Al Ahly CIRA will commence operations at the Saxony Egypt University of Applied Sciences and Technology (SEU) in September after it received the greenlight from the cabinet.