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A busy night on the airwaves: The nation’s talking heads covered everything from the Madbouly government’s privatization program and gold prices to the latest in Sudan and the fast-approaching National Dialogue.
Lamees calls on gov’t to accelerate privatization:“Every delay comes with a price in this situation,” Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi said (watch, runtime: 3:49) pointing to a number companies that have been talking about privatization for years — Banque du Caire, Safi and Wataniya — as well as the EGP-USD exchange rate. Egyptian Capital Market Association VP Ayman Sabry seconded El Hadidi’s concerns about the pace of reform: “There is a daily cost for the unattained USD … we keep delaying the transaction and then eventually accepting lower valuations because we end up selling out of necessity,” he said (watch, runtime: 5:34).
International credit rating agencies are not biased against Egypt, El Hadidi said in response to Finance Minister Mohamed Maait’s recent claims. The minister suggested earlier this week that Moody’s, Fitch Ratings’ and S&P Global’s negative actions on Egypt’s rating were motivated by prejudice.
It’s day 25 of the war in Sudan: Air strikes and fighting continues as talks between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces continue, Al Qahera News correspondent Mohamed Ibrahim told Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 6:13). Meanwhile, Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa broadcast his evening from Chad, where he interviewed Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry (watch, runtime: 5:15), and Higher Education Ministry spokesperson Adel Abdel Ghaffar joined Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 6:22) to speak on the future of the Egyptian students who were studying in Sudan. Masa’a DMC (watch, runtime: 1:19) also had coverage.
The National Dialogue is upon us: The long-awaited National Dialogue kicks off next week after months of preparations and coordination.The dialogue’s board of trustees released a statement last night calling on participants to stay the course and avoid withdrawing from the proceedings. “The board doesn’t want anyone to withdraw their participation from the dialogue. They want [all members of society] to be present for the dialogue and listen to each other,” El Hadidi said (watch, runtime: 4:07). Meanwhile, journalist and dialogue board member Gamal El Keshki joined Al Hayah Al Youm to discuss next week’s schedule (watch, runtime: 15:51).
