Good afternoon, wonderful people. It’s a busy Wednesday afternoon, with a pipeline of news to keep you busy as we count down to the weekend.

THE BIG STORY TODAY-

Daylight savings time could make a comeback: A draft law that would reinstate daylight savings time — rolling our clocks forward from April through October — got the greenlight from the Madbouly cabinet at its weekly meeting, according to a statement. The law would see Cairo Local Time (CLT) pushed forward by one hour from the last Friday of April through the last Thursday of October.

Refresher: The cabinet scrapped daylight savings time back in 2016, after a year when we had “sprung forward” for spring, fallen back for Ramadan, sprung forward again post-Ramadan, and then fallen back a final time for fall.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD-

China's manufacturing activity grew at its fastest rate in more than a decade in February, far exceeding expectations as production skyrocketed following the removal of covid restrictions at the end of last year. The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose for the second month in a row, hitting 52.6 in February, the highest level since April 2012, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics earlier today.

This story is all over the international business news this afternoon, with front pages implying that the country is getting back to normal faster than expected after the pandemic restrictions. (Reuters | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal | CNBC )

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

• Nokia to export Egypt-made phones this year. Nokia phone manufacturer HMD Global plans to export phones assembled in Egypt to North Africa this year. Target markets could include Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.
• Gov’t imposes new charges on hotels + tourist companies: Hotels, tourist companies, restaurants and bazaars will have to pay additional fees into the government’s tourism support fund.
• Madbouly reassures Qatari investors on economy in bid to draw investment. Egyptian officials yesterday sought to reassure Qatari business leaders on the state of the Egyptian economy in a bid to unlock fresh Qatari investment.

???? CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Do you want to attend our Enterprise Exports + FDI Forum on Monday, 15 May at the Four Seasons? As always, we’ll get underway at 8:00am with a networking breakfast for senior execs, then tumble into a day of compelling (and, we hope, inspiring) on-stage interviews.

Hit this link if you want to let us know you’re interested in attending (or just to check the event website and see what we’re thinking). We’ll soon start sending out invitations in batches.

Do you have an export success story you’d like to share on stage or with the community in editorial content? Drop a note to Patrick here and let’s talk.

Do you want to become a commercial partner for the event? Some of the biggest names in business and finance are on board — are you? Ping a note to Moustafa, our head of commercial, here.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The heatwave continues: Expect temperatures to rise to 34°C during the day tomorrow before falling to 16°C at night, our favorite weather app tells us.