Good afternoon, friends, and happy Thursday. It’s a wrap for a busy work week, and we’re ready to welcome the long weekend with open arms.

EnterpriseAM Egypt won’t be landing in your inbox on Sunday in observance of Armed Forces Day, along with other private and public sectors, as well as banks and the EGX, but we’ll be back at our customary time on Monday.

THE BIG STORIES TODAY

#1- Egypt’s GDP growth slows in FY 2023-24: GDP growth came in at 2.4% in 4Q 2023-24, bringing the GDP growth rate for the full fiscal year to 2.4%, Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat announced at a press conference earlier today. That’s compared to the 3.8% growth rate recorded during the previous fiscal year.

Driving the decline: The lower GDP growth rate came as geopolitical tension and volatility in the global economy put pressure on the Egyptian economy, particularly with “the government’s contractionary policies aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability — strengthening the governance of public investments being a key policy,” the ministry said. Suez Canal activity dropped 30% y-o-y in FY 2023-24, with a “sharp 68% contraction recorded in the last quarter alone,” the ministry said.

These drops were offset by growth in other sectors, including communications and information technology, tourism, wholesale and retail trade, transport and storage, and social services, including education and health.

#2- Business activity is back to contraction territory: Egypt’s non-oil private sector activity contracted in September, as higher cost inflation dampened sales and new orders during last month, the S&P Global’s Egypt Purchasing Managers (PMI) index shows (pdf). The September index reading came in at 48.4, down from 50.4 in August, which was the single month of expansion the country’s non-oil private sector had witnessed since November 2020.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Picking up where we left off this morning, Israel’s escalating attacks on Lebanon continue to lead the front pages in the international press. The Israeli military issued evacuation notices for citizens in more than 20 towns in southern Lebanon, after launching a second attack on central Beirut overnight. The evacuation warnings, which “included the provincial capital Nabatieh, suggesting another Israeli operation designed to further weaken Hezbollah is imminent.” Meanwhile, Israel is still considering the extent of its retaliation against Iran after Tehran fired missiles into Tel Aviv on Tuesday — itself a retaliatory attack for Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and several other attacks in Lebanon and Gaza. (Reuters | Bloomberg | Wall Street Journal | New York Times | Financial Times)

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

  • Demand for real estate assets in Egypt is real. Whether it is for hedging, investment or personal use, Egyptians like to buy property and the proof is in the paper.
  • Egypt’s net foreign asset surplus fell 27% to USD 9.7 bn in August,down from USD 13.3 bn in July.
  • Google to begin paying content creators in EGP starting next year: The tech giant has notified content creators and publishers on its platforms that they will begin receiving their earnings in local currency starting May 2025 — Google currently pays creators on its platforms in USD.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The mercury has remained fairly stable recently,with tomorrow’s temperature reaching a high of 31°C and a low of 21°C in the capital, according to our favorite weather app.

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