It was a quiet night for the talking heads last night. With Lamees El Hadidi and Sherif Amer still on their summer breaks, and Amr Adib taking the night off, Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal and Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa provided the bulk of the coverage, covering a variety of topics including gold and food prices, the latest offering of industrial lands, and privatization.

GOLD PRICES-

Gold prices rise 12%: The price of 21-carat gold has surged 12% in recent days on renewed demand for gold coins and alloys, Supply Ministry Advisor Nagy Farag told Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal (watch, runtime: 3:44).

Bullion prices surged last week: The price of 24-carat gold rose almost 8% to EGP 2.65k in the week to Saturday while 21-carat gold increased 7% to EGP 2.32k during the week.

Remember: Gold prices soared to record highs earlier this year as savers responded to the FX crunch and rising inflation by investing money in safe haven assets. Prices have dipped in recent months following efforts by the government to stabilize the market, which included relaxing customs rules in a bid to increase supply.

HOLY SMOKES-

Cigarette price volatility will continue through to next month: Cigarette prices aren’t expected to decline back to their normal prices for another 3-4 weeks, Eastern Company Managing Director and CEO Hany Aman told Akher El Nahar on Friday (watch, runtime: 1:13:26), amid shortages of some types of cigarettes and recent price hikes. Aman announced last week that his company will be increasing the daily quantity of cigarettes it delivers to the market starting this week. The Federation of Egyptian Industries’ (FEI) cigarettes division head Ibrahim Embaby suggested to the Supply Minister to consider re-offering confiscated cigarettes in Wataniya gas stations at the official prices, Masrawy reports, citing a federation statement.

ALSO ON THE AIRWAVES-

  • Privatization: GAFI boss Hossam Heiba was on with Akher El Nahar’s Mohamed El Baz to assure viewers about the impact of the government’s privatization strategy (watch, runtime: 10:40).
  • Industrial land auction: Industrial Development Authority (IDA) Mohamed Abdel Karim appeared on Ala Mas’ouleety to discuss the upcoming auction of industrial land that will launch this week. We have more on this in this morning’s What We’re Tracking Today, above (watch, runtime: 19:34).
  • Covid: The new sub-variant of the covid-19 virus, dubbed EG.5 / Eris, has not yet been detected in Egypt, Health Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar told El Baz (watch, ru ntime: 1:23:00).
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