Good afternoon, ladies and gents, and welcome to the end of this super-short week. We took the past two days as a gentle reminder of what work is like after a wonderful long Eid break.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Egypt’s economy will grow at a 4.5% clip in FY 2023-24, with growth expected to come in at 4.0% in the current fiscal year, according to a Reuters poll of economists. The poll sees growth picking up again in FY 2024-25 to 5.0%. The Madbouly government’s most recent estimates pencil in growth for the current fiscal year at 4.0-5.0%.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

New air strikes throw cold water on truce extension in Sudan: Despite the Sudanese Army proposing a 72-hour extension to its truce with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), air strikes and clashes persisted today, Reuters reports. The RSF accused the army of attacking its forces today and spreading “false rumors,” even after Armed Forces General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan approved the truce, and agreed to send an envoy for talks in Juba, South Sudan, according to Reuters. The statement made no mention of the proposed truce extension.

It seems like a truce won’t hold: The clashing parties continued their assaults, despite the agreed to a three-day truce that expires today at midnight. The conflict that’s been going for two weeks so far has claimed at least 512 lives and injured more than 4.2k others.

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

  • DPI is doubling down on Kazyon: A consortium led by our friends at Africa-focused private equity firm Development Partners International (DPI) will invest USD 165 mn in supermarket chain Kazyon.
  • Gov’t expands subsidized loan program to include tourism: The Madbouly government will offer EGP 10 bn worth of loans at a subsidized 11% interest rate to tourism players, pushing the total value of its subsidized loan program to EGP 160 bn.
  • Hotel occupancy in Egypt increased 20-25% y-o-y in 1Q 2023 thanks to tourist inflows from new markets and the depreciation of the EGP.

? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

PSA #1- Daylight savings is coming at midnight: Get ready for some semi-jet lagged confusion and tardiness. Daylight savings — our first since 2016 — which will see Cairo Local Time (CLT) pushed forward by one hour as of midnight tonight. Daylight savings will remain in effect until 11:59pm on Thursday, 26 October, Cabinet said in a statement yesterday. The move, which breezed through the House of Representatives earlier this month, was made with an eye towards potentially cutting down our natural gas consumption.

PSA #2- Next week is another short one: We’ve got a three-day weekend next week to easeus all back into work mode, after Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly made Thursday, 4 May, a holiday for the public and private sector to mark Labor Day, which falls on 1 May. Banks will also be closed next Thursday, the Central Bank of Egypt said today.

The NBA Basketball Africa League Nile Conference group phase kicked off yesterday and runs through 5 May at Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall in Sixth of October City, according to a Youth and Sports Ministry statement. Six African teams will go head-to-head in Cairo to secure one of four slots in the playoffs and finals in Kigali, Rwanda in May, where they will face the top four teams from the Sahara Conference group phase that took place in Senegal in March, the NBA said.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- We’re in for a pleasantly warm weekend, with highs of 27°C tomorrow and 25°C on Saturday, and overnight lows of 14°C-16°C.

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