GDP growth comes in at 4.3% in 2Q FY 2024-2025

Good afternoon, friends, and welcome to the almost-weekend. The news cycle is still heating up as we wind down before Eid. In today’s issue you’ll find all you need to know about our accelerating GDP growth, the White House’s latest piling national security blunders, as well as an explanation of why the most challenging tasks seem the most appealing to many of us.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

GDP growth nearly doubled y-o-y in 2Q FY 2024-2025, coming in at 4.3% y-o-y for the three month period between September and December, up from 2.3% during the same period last year, according to a statement from the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry. The ministry attributes the recovery to a combination of “continued structural reforms aimed at maintaining macroeconomic stability, coupled with stringent governance of public investment that strengthen resilience and support shifting from a non-tradable to a tradable economy,” the statement reads.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

National security blunders in the White House are continuing to embarrass the Trump administration, with most of the world’s digital front pages still leading with news that senior officials posted classified war plans for Yemen on a Signal chat group that accidentally included the Atlantics’s editor in chief. Adding insult to injury, are recent reports that the Pentagon had already warned the Trump officials against using the messaging app before the leak, citing its vulnerability to Russian hackers. (Wall Street Journal | Financial Times | New York Times | Guardian | Associated Press)

Legal experts are having a field day counting the numerous violations potentially committed by the officials sharing classified information on the app, including the US Espionage Act and the Federal Records Act as several of the messages were set to disappear after a set timeframe in the app.

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

• China’s Wu’an Xin Feng inked a USD 1.7 bn agreement with the Madbouly gov’t to build an integrated metal industries complex in Ain Sokhna. The two-phase project will span five years and create 8k direct jobs once complete.
• Instapay will start charging transfer fees starting Tuesday, 1 April, with transactions incurring a 0.1% fee — between EGP 0.50 and EGP 20. Users will also get ten free balance inquiries a month, after which a EGP 0.50 fee applies.
• Investors snapped up 92.1% of Beltone Holding’s massive EGP 10.75 bn capitalincrease in the first subscription round. The rights issue — one of the largest in EGX history — will raise the company’s capital to EGP 21.7 bn.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The temperature is reaching its highest peak this week, with tomorrow’s mercury set to rise to 37°C and cool to 24°C at night, according to our favorite weather app.