Good morning, friends, and a very happy Friday to you all. This long weekend is much needed after a busy week of news, and we hope you have some fun plans to fill it up with.

Enjoying the holiday at home? Maybe you should spend it planning an upgrade. This week’s Enterprise Guide is full of tech gadgets that will help you optimize and automate your living space. Welcome to the future.

Enterprise Weekend comes out each Friday at 9:00am CLT. We’ll be back on Monday at 6am with EnterpriseAM Egypt. Until then: Enjoy the weekend.

LAST WEEK IN 3 MINS-

REAL ESTATE-

#1- Construction work on the Ras El Hekma project will officially kick off today: Emirati sovereign wealth fund ADQ will lay the foundation stone for its USD multi-bn Ras El Hekma project today, Deputy Housing Minister for Technical Affairs Abdul Khaleq Ibrahim told Al Arabiya earlier this week. The first phase of the project — for which work has already unofficially begun — will take three years and cover 10k feddans, Ibrahim added.

#2- Construction licensing made easier: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has directed the government to scrap the construction licensing requirements put forward in 2021 and reinstating the full provisions of the 2008 Building Law and its executive regulations, according to a statement from the Housing Ministry. Permits can now be issued in a maximum of 44 days and minimum of 26 days.

ECONOMY-

#1 Egypt is set to secure USD 2.9 bn in financing to support the state budget and enhance structural reforms from a number of development partners, including the European Union, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, Japan, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the French Development Agency, Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Minister Rania Al Mashat told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference yesterday. The new funds are pending the necessary approvals, Al Mashat added.

#2- 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%, Al Mashat announced at the press conference. 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 minister 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 minister added.

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.

#3- 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.

#4- Has our fourth loan review with the IMF been pushed back again? The Fund is likely toconduct the fourth review of our USD 8 bn loan program in November, a government source told Enterprise. The review that will unlock a USD 1.3 bn tranche — the biggest among the four tranches to date — was initially scheduled for September, before being delayed to October.

The why: The government wants to wait so investment incentives and investment agreements currently in the works can be finalized and then taken into account for the review. In addition to this, the delayed third review has pushed back the timetable for subsequent reviews, our source told us.

#5- Egypt’s current account deficit saw a fourfold rise in FY 2023-24, recording USD 20.8 bn up from USD 4.7 bn during the previous fiscal year, driven by a significant increase in trade deficit and a decline in Suez Canal revenues. Despite the widening current account deficit, Egypt recorded an overall balance of payments surplus of USD 9.7 bn, which the bank said was driven by structural reforms that took place during the second half of the year, which resulted in a net inflow of some USD 29.9 bn.

INFRASTRUCTURE-

Intro Technology and Omani data center leader Oman Data Park will establish a new USD450 mn sustainable data center in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), under an MoU inked between the two. Spanning some 80k sqm, the center — dubbed the Kemet Data Centre — will be developed in two phases and will serve large companies looking for cost-effective and advanced cloud solutions, Internet of Things (IoT), and digital transformation.

MANUFACTURING-

Egypt could soon manufacture its own electrolyzers to power its green hydrogen ambitions: Norwegian renewables giant Scatec, Belgium’s John Cockerill, John Cockerill-Technip JV Rely, and France’s SLB have plans to set up a factory to manufacture electrolyzers for green hydrogen production in Ain Sokhna.

AROUND THE WORLD IN SEVEN DAYS-

The world’s attention was squarely fixed on our part of the world throughout last week, after Israel upped its offensive on Lebanon by battering the country with airstrikes and launched on-the-ground invasion of the country after assassinating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah over the weekend.

As in Gaza, civilians and children have found themselves at the receiving end of attacks. More than a mn Lebanese civilians have fled their homes to seek safety in the north of the country and even in neighboring Syria, with the death toll over the last two weeks expected to have now reached around 1k.

Fears of regional escalation began to feel ever more real, with Iran launching a missileattack on Israel later in the week in retaliation for its invasion of Lebanon, which Israel vowed to respond to. The apartheid state also launched attacks on Yemen throughout the week.

While in an otherwise quiet week for business news, a bullish Chinese stock market caught many by surprise, with Chinese equities having their best day in 16 years on Monday, after “fevered trading” saw the country hitting CNY 1 tn-worth of shares traded in the shortest amount of time in its history. Chinese markets closed up 8% throughout the day, before closing for a weeklong national holiday until Tuesday.

☀️ THE WEATHER THIS WEEKEND- This long weekend is giving us stable sunny mornings and chilly fall evenings. The capital will be seeing a high of 31°C and a low of 21°C today and tomorrow, with the same high on Sunday and only a slightly warmer low of 22°C, according to our favorite weather app.

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND-

MENA’s first and only design-film festival is back: Film My Design festival is back for its third edition — under the theme Designing Our Lives for a Better Future — the event commences tonight until Saturday, 12 October at Zawya Cinema. The festival features film screenings, masterclasses, a motion design exhibition, VR immersive experiences, and much more. Buy your tickets from Collard Tickets.

Calling all cinema aficionados, Affichat w Aflam is getting an extension. The exhibition will continue to showcase a vast selection of the late Pierre Sioufi’s collection of more than 10k pieces of Egyptian cinema memorabilia from 1932-2017 until 6 October. The exhibition is open from 10am to 10pm at Bibliothek.

Relive the magic of Amy Winehouse withThe Amy Winehouse Band. This isn’t just a tribute band, it’s Winehouse’s actual original band keeping her spirit and legacy alive. Witness the era defining music at The Theater in Somabay tomrrow. Grab your tickets from Tazkarti.

For the love of tapestry. Today in History is Amsterdam-based Egyptian artist Dina Danish’s first exhibition in Egypt in nearly a decade. Composed of a collection of appliqué tapestries that resemble medieval banners, the exhibition is still open at the Gypsum Gallery till Saturday, 30 October.

HAPPENING NEXT WEEKEND-

Bibliothek is als hosting another book signing for Riccardo Mancuso’s book Nos Se'eedi wi Nos Khawaga — an exploration of both the origins of Italian cuisine and Egyptians who have Italian origins.The event will take place on Saturday, 12 October.

Layali Misr with Angham: Singer Angham will be performing live as part of the Layali Misr event at the Grand Egyptian Museum on Friday, 11 October from 10pm. Tickets are available on Tazkarti.

The celebration of music continues at the Arab Music Festival, which kicks off on Friday, 11 October. The festival’s lineup includes Medhat Saleh, Ali El Haggar, Abeer Nehme, Wael Jassar, Lotfi Bouchnak, and more. The festival will run until Thursday, 24 October — tickets can be booked through Tazkarti.

Registration is still open for the Scaled Games. Show off your skills by taking part in one of the three sporting competitions available: running, football, or crossfit. Running and crossfit will both take place on Friday, 11 October, while the football tournament will take place starting Friday, 27 September to Friday, 11 October. All events will happen in New Heliopolis City. You can sign up on Ticketsmarche.

Go on a run in Egypt’s historic city at the Luxor Half Marathon. Cairo Runners’ annual event will take place on Friday, 11 October. Pick between a 21km or 10km race, or a short family run. You can register here.