** TAP OR CLICK HERE TO TAKE OUR 3Q2017 READER SENTIMENT SURVEY: We’re asking you throughout this week how you feel about doing business in Egypt this year, if you’ll invest more and the biggest challenges you face, among other questions. The survey, the largest quarterly take on the pulse of the business and investing community, will run until Thursday. It won’t take more than a couple of minutes to complete unless you’d like to leave us a note at the end (optional, but it would be cool if you did). We’ll have the results ready for you next week.

Some good news to kick off a short workweek: Egypt’s budget deficit crashed through the 10% barrier to hit 9.5% of GDP in FY 2016-17, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi announced on Thursday. The deficit dropped from 11.5% of GDP in FY2015-16, Reuters adds. El Sisi also expects the inflation rate to fall by more than half in 2018 with an overall goal to reduce the inflation rate to around 13% in 2018, according to the Associated Press.

Finance Minister Amr El Garhy expects GDP growth in the current fiscal year to come in at 5-5.25%, up from 4.2% in the fiscal year that ended in June, according to Al Shorouk.

Bye-bye, dog days of summer: The mercury is plunging to much more civilized levels, with today’s forecasted high standing at 32°C. The stock market is also welcoming the cooler weather, with turnover rising to EGP 1.5 bn on Thursday, or about 77% above the trailing 90-day average. The benchmark EGX30 advanced 1.3%, good for a YTD gain of 10.3%.

El Sisi to meet Trump in US this week, push for engagement on Libyan crisis: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is heading to New York today to attend the 72nd Regular Session of the UN General Assembly, which kicked off last week and runs until 25 September, according to a statement from Ittihadiya. El Sisi is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, according to the White House. He is also scheduled to participate in a UN Security Council summit on international peacekeeping missions as well as a working meeting on the Libyan crisis. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is already in New York ahead of El Sisi’s arrival.

The Ikhwan will, accordingly, be having a blast in the US of A this week, planning to “welcome” the president to New York on Wednesday and fêting the lunatic from Ankara in Washington tomorrow, according to analyst Eric Trager.

If you care about what you put in your body — or the future of our species — there aretwo pieces you must read this week. Both on nutrition, which is supposed to be the most boring (and junk-science-filled) subject on the planet, right? The New York Times and Politico make it absolutely compelling. First, the Times looks at how Nestlé and other Big Food companies are helping destroy public health in emerging markets by pushing high-sugar processed foods that are driving growth in obesity and the diseases related to it, including diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Then flip over to Politico to read “The great nutrient collapse,” about how “the atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention.” It’s one part public policy story, one part science whodunit and entirely compelling. Both stories are long — save ‘em to Pocket to read on your commute or later this week if you can’t down either of them before you have to dash to work this morning.

** PSA- It’s a blessedly short week as we prepare for a Thursday-Saturday long weekend in observance of Islamic New Year. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail has made it official. Make the weekend count — with 6 October falling on a Friday, we figure it’s our last holiday until the Prophet’s Birthday on or about 30 November. Happy 1439, y’all.