The economy dominated the airwaves again last night, as the nation’s talking heads gave air time to the IMF delegation in Cairo, Moody’s latest downgrade of our sovereign credit rating, and our struggling national currency.
The IMF is in town: “There is speculation that [IMF loan] could reach USD 6 bn or more to control the parallel market and high inflation,” House Planning and Budget Committee head Fakhry El Fiqi said on Ala Masouleety (watch, runtime: 54:48). The IMF’s visit also got the attention of hosts and pundits on Masa DMC (watch, runtime: 1:46) and Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 6:44).
“Every Moody’s report, without exception, did not miss that Egypt has a deep and diverse economy… The problem lies in resource management policies,” Amr Hassanein, chairman of rating agency MERIS, told Lamees El Hadidi. He added that “we have [no options] but to work on attracting investment (watch, runtime: 8:19). Economist Medhat Nafea echoed a similar sentiment in an interview with Amr Adib (watch, runtime: 11:07), saying that the government needs to rebuild trust with all stakeholders by changing some of its policies.
A man with a plan: Former international cooperation minister and deputy PM Ziad Bahaa El Din appeared on Nazra and proposed five emergency measures to rectify the economy in an interview with Hamdy Rizk (watch, runtime: 52:24).