*Key news articles for today*

 The House has passed the new Labor Act. The new act needs to be published in the Official Gazette and we’ll need to see the executive regulations to it. The country’s specialized labor courts (a key feature of the law) are expected to start operating on 1 October 2025 when the new judicial year kicks off.

Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk delivered his budget statement to the House. Highlights of the budget include:

1. Egypt’s real GDP growth is expected to accelerate to 4.5% in the coming fiscal year, up from an estimated 4.0% in FY 2024-25.

2. The gov’t sees the primary surplus reaching 4.0% of GDP.

3. A 23.0% y-o-y jump in public revenues to EGP 3.1 tn and a 19.2% y-o-y rise in expenses to EGP 4.6 tn.

4.  The government is aiming to raise some EGP2.6 tn in tax revenues in the upcoming fiscal year.

5. The government targets decreasing the public debt to GDP to 81% by end of June 2026 and decreasing the external debt of budget sector by up to USD2 billion annually.

Egypt hopes to attract some USD4 bn in new Kuwaiti investments this year — part of a wider USD6.5 bn target through the end of 2026.

Eni plans to drill two new gas wells in Egypt’s Zohr field next year, with an estimated investment of USD360 million.

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) intends to provide USD2 billion in financing to Egypt during the current year, divided between direct and indirect financing. The direct financing will be directed to Egyptian banks and strategic commodities, while the indirect financing will focus on supporting projects implemented by Egyptian companies in other African markets.

ORAS announces the start of commercial operations of 500 MW at the newly expanded 650 MW Build-Own-Operate (BOO) wind farm in Ras Ghareb, Egypt six months ahead of schedule. ORAS owns 25% of the project. 

ORHD (FV: EGP34.74, OW) Board approved the distribution of EGP0.384/share cash dividends, implying a dividend yield of 1.7%.

HELI (FV: EGP18.84, OW) received three offers to co-develop its 52k sqm land plot in Mansoura.

Italian chemicals manufacturer Mapei has inaugurated the first phase of its second Egypt factory — a EUR25 million plant in Tenth of Ramadan — to produce chemical and insulation materials. 

China’s Binhua Group — or Befar — broke ground on their USD500 million chlor-alkali production facility in the China-Egypt TEDA trade zone, according to a statement from the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone). The big-ticket project is split between a USD300 million first phase — to be completed within 18 months — and a second USD200 million second phase.