Ras El Hekma once again received the most coverage on the airwaves last night, as the nation’s talking heads focused on the impact of the agreement on Egypt’s USD bonds, the parallel market, and commodity prices. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s meetings with the leaders of the armed forces yesterday also received airtime.

“There have been tangible improvements in the performance of Egypt’s USD bonds following the Ras El Hekma agreement,” Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi said on her program (watch, runtime: 7:02). These improvements show confidence from the market and foreign investors, but the market is still waiting for the agreement to be finalized and for the CBE to devalue the EGP, El Hadidi added.

Car prices see noticeable drop following news of the agreement: Prices of cars have gone down by between EGP 50-60k, with some going down by EGP 100k, Egyptian Automotive Dealers Association head Osama Abo El Magd told Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa (watch, runtime: 36:20). A member of the Electrical Appliances Division also told Moussa that there will be a gradual decline in the prices of electrical appliances during the next three months.

House Budget Committee head Fakhry El Feky expects the exchange rate to continue fluctuating in the short- to medium-term before reaching somewhere between EGP 40-45 by the end of the year, and then dropping to EGP 35-40 next year, he told Yahduth Fi Misr’s Sherif Amer (watch, runtime: 20:52). El Feky also pointed out that converting UAE deposits at the CBE into EGP would reduce a third of the budget deficit for the current year — which amounts to EGP 848 bn — bringing down “the interest on loans that the government would have borrowed to cover the gap in the budget” .

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s meeting with senior military officials got extensive coverage: The meeting focused on multiple topics related to the activity carried out by the Egyptian military to protect the state and its strategic interests, as well as the current regional and international developments and their repercussions on Egypt’s national security. The meeting also delved into Egypt’s efforts in supporting the Palestinian people and alleviating the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip. The meeting received coverage from Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime 1:05), Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 2:28), Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 2:03), and Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 2:25).

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