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Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and happy almost-Thursday. Looks like the newscycle is not letting up as we inch closer to the weekend.
PSA #1- EgyptAir has temporarily suspended flights between Cairo and Dubai in both directions after yesterday’s bout of torrential rain in the UAE flooded out Dubai International Airport, the company said this morning. Flights will resume when “weather conditions in Dubai improve and aircraft are allowed to land and take off again,” the national flag carrier said, without providing an exact time or date. Tap or click the statement here for a list of ways to contact the company in case of inquiries.
PSA #2- We’re in for a long weekend next week: Thursday, 25 April is off in observance of Sinai Liberation Day, as decreed by a decision issued by Prime Minister Moustafa Mabdouly today. The day is an official holiday for all public and private sector workers.
THE BIG STORIES TODAY
ِ#1- More on next year’s budget: The Finance Ministry released its preliminarybudget report for fiscal year 2024-2025 (pdf) today, giving us a peek at the government’s growth, inflation, deficit, and primary surplus targets for the year to come.
A quick rundown: Growth projection slashed again to 4.0% | Inflation targets revised upwards to an average of 18.1% | Budget deficit to widen a slight 0.1 percentage points to 7.3% | Primary surplus to increase 1 percentage point to 3.5%.
#2- PHD teams up with Cleopatra Group for a North Coast project: Real estate developer Palm Hills Development (PHD) agreed with Cleopatra Group to develop a new project in North Coast’s Sidi Haneish, sources told Asharq Business. The project is expected to generate revenues of over EGP 100 bn within seven years with PHD taking a 67% cut of the revenues, the sources said.
THE BIG STORY ABROAD
UAE’s unprecedented torrential storm is dominating the front pages of the foreign press: The UAE today was clearing debris after the country was struck yesterday by the heaviest rain ever recorded in its history. The rain, which state-run WAM news agency describes as “surpassing anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949”, killed at least one, left cars stranded on flooded roads, and flooded out Dubai International Airport, prompting Emirates airline to suspend all passenger check-ins today. There have been mixed reports on whether cloud seeding by the UAE government could have triggered the floods, with some outlets saying that the National Center for Meteorology has denied that seeding took place before the outpour despite the country’s frequent seeding operations since 2002.
(Reuters | Bloomberg | Associated Press | CNBC)
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** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:
- The IMF left its growth forecast for Egypt for the current fiscal year unchanged at 3.0% in its updated World Economic Outlook (pdf) released yesterday, after having successively downgrading the country’s GDP forecast in previous reports.
- Egyptian exports on the rise: Egypt’s exports grew 5.3% y-o-y in the first three months of the year to total USD 9.6 bn.
- Higher finance costs, lower revenues hit Macro Group’s bottomline: Pharma and cosmeceuticals firm Macro Group turned to losses in 2023 on the back of a dip in revenues and higher financing costs.
☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- Another warm day tomorrow, with the mercury climbing to 31°C and dropping to a low of 22°C, according to our favorite weather app.
