The nation’s talking heads weren’t in shortage of topics yesterday where they covered everything from blackouts to the government’s management of the crisis and to the extreme global weather conditions and forecasts. The National Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr’s new saving certificates were still getting attention while an economist didn’t have great things to say about Moody’s forthcoming outlook on Egypt’s credit rating.

Blackouts could extend to mid-September -cabinet spokesman: While cabinet hopes we’ll see relief by the end of July, the worst case scenario could see rolling blackouts continue through mid-September should the weather sustain these high temperature levels, Cabinet Spokesperson Nader Saad told Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa yesterday ( watch, runtime, 5:35).

What’s different about this year? While temperatures have been this high before , we saw the mercury sustained at this high a level only for three days in July last year, said Saad, adding that this has strained our ability to provide enough gas and mazut to cover the elevated demand.

Importing mazut again after a four-month hiatus: The government stopped importing mazut in March thinking that it could rely on local production during the summer and not anticipating the prolonged heat wave seen this month, said Saad. It now plans to spend USD 250-300 mn by the end of August on importing new supplies of mazut in bid to end the crisis, Madbouly said in the presser on Thursday.

Don’t blame it on the weather, says Amr Adib: El Hekaya’s Amr Adib took note of the PM’s presser on Thursday and criticized the cabinet for what he called “mismanagement of the crisis” and “poor communication with the public.” The government should be straightforward and honest with the public about the causes of the problem rather than just “blaming it on the weather,” he told his viewers ( watch, runtime: 25:16).

This extreme heatwave wasn’t a surprise because we are able to forecast weather conditions up to three months in the future, though the level of precision decreases over longer periods, Manar Ghanem, an official at the Egyptian Meteorological Authority official told El Hadidi ( watch, runtime: 6:25). Al Hayah Al Youm took note of the blackout measures taken by several countries around the world including the United Kingdom, France, and Italy ( watch, runtime: 8:02), while Adeeb had a segment on the detrimental effects of the current global heatwaves on living creatures ( watch, runtime: 2:56)

Solar users won’t be spared: Households running on solar energy panels that are linked to the national grid will not be spared from the blackouts, Infinity General Manager Hesham El Gamal told El Hadidi ( watch, runtime: 17:47).

OF CDs AND CREDIT DOWNGRADES-

Another Moody’s downgrade would hurt: Moody’s is expected to downgrade its Egypt outlook when it publishes its review in the next few days, a move which would be “painful” for the country, economist Medhat Nafea told Lamees El Hadidi ( watch, runtime: 6:00) yesterday. “Another downgrade is likely in the case that Moody’s doesn’t consider the recently announced sale of USD 1.9 bn worth of state-owned assets a serious step into implementing comprehensive economic reforms,” he said. El Hadidi also took note of the IMF’s latest forecasts for Egypt, which see lower growth and higher inflation in 2024 ( watch, runtime: 3:30).

CD rules don’t breach int’l money laundering regs, says banker: Buyers of the new USD-denominated CDs will not be asked about the source of their money, banking expert Tarek Metwally told Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi ( watch, runtime: 11:31) yesterday, adding that the banks will only conduct the routine know-your-customer procedures (KYC) when approached by new customers. This KYC is enough to give the bank an idea about the source of the money used to buy the c ertificates , he added, refuting any violations of international money laundering standards.

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