It was a lighter night on the airwaves celebrating Egyptian mothers and the approaching first day of Ramadan.

Happy Mother’s Day from last night’s talk shows. The country’s talking heads ditched their professional personas for a few minutes yesterday as they wished their mothers, and all Egyptian mothers, a happy Mother’s Day. Al Hayah Al Youm’s Mohamed Sherdy (watch, runtime: 1:13) and Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 5:15) dedicated a few minutes of their shows to their mothers, who they knew would be tuning in to watch them and Yahduth Fi Masr’s Sherif Amer remembered his late mother in a heartfelt tribute (watch, runtime: 6:27).

… and Ramadan Kareem. The nation’s talking heads all wished their viewers a Ramadan Kareem, with each having their own coverage of the month. Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 5:44) highlighted the postal offices Ramadan working hours, from 9 am to 2 pm, with 60 offices across the nation scheduled to work the night shift 8 pm to 11 pm to give people the chance to run their mailing errands post iftar. Culture Minister Nevine El Kilany joined Yahduth Fi Masr (watch, runtime: 5:39) to walk us through the many events the government is hosting in celebration of the holy month, including a book fair in Faisal, live shows for kids, and musical performances.

Checking in on food prices before we welcome Ramadan: The state has made food commodities — rice, sugar, and poultry — widely available ahead of the food-centered holy month, Abdel Moneim Khalil, head of internal trade at the Supply Ministry told El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 4:55), adding that the Supply Ministry will continue to increase its supplies of rice in efforts to bring down prices. The ministry will release some 50k tons of rice into the market in the “coming few days” to help curb prices, he said.

On a less optimistic note: There are still commodities stuck in our ports, Magdy El Waily, member of the grain chamber at the Federation of Egyptian Industries, told Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 4:03 | 1:35). “There is no quick solution,” he said, adding that we need regulations to ensure commodities don't end up stuck in ports. Tharwat El Zeiny, deputy chairman of the Egyptian Poultry Association agreed (watch, runtime: 3:15), saying that suppliers stopped buying chicks because they are no longer sure if they will be able to secure supplies of feed.

UBS’ takeover of Credit Suisse isn’t expected to impact banks in the region, though it might hurt investment funds who have deposits at the lender, Nasser Zouheir, head of international relations and political economy at the Geneva Center for Studies, told Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 1:37 | 4:03). “We can’t say that the banking crisis is over yet, as any minor shock can trigger it again,” he cautioned. Zouhir predicted a 25-bps rate hike from the Federal Reserve when it meets later today, adding that it is unlikely to keep rates unchanged because it risks undermining the work the bank has done to curb inflation over the past year.

Tags: