A steep drop in the central bank’s net foreign asset deficit dominated talk shows last night, but the nation’s talking heads also found the time to look into why natural gas production at the much hyped Zohr field has been declining.

The deficit in net foreign assets at the Central Bank of Egypt in March shrank to its lowest levels in over two years, Lamees El Hadidi reported on Kelma Akhira, citing a statement issued by the CBE yesterday (watch, runtime: 4:32). The net foreign assets deficit narrowed to EGP 65.4 bn at the end of March, from EGP 270.7 bn in February, El Hadidi explained — which comes out as a 76% drop by our math.

In USD terms, the drop is larger still, with the net foreign asset deficit coming in 84% smaller on the month before when taking into account the new post-float exchange rate.

“The decrease is down to two main reasons. Firstly, Egypt’s foreign exchange reserves roseby USD 5 bn at the end of last month, reaching USD 40 bn,” El Hadidi explained. “Secondly, a part of the UAE’s deposits with the central bank, worth USD 10 bn, have gone into investments under the agreement to develop the Ras El Hekma area, reducing the pressure on the central bank’s debt obligations.” Lubna Asal was also on the lookout for answers and called up Al Habtoor Research Centre Senior Economist Mohamed Shadi on El Hayah El Yom to find out more (watch, runtime: 3:54).

We’re yet to get the full picture: The CBE has not yet issued data on net foreign assets for the month of March for the banking sector as a whole and so we’re still in the dark on how commercial banks’ net foreign asset position fared in the month.

ALSO- There’s hope for Zohr yet: As the Zohr gas field suffers from a decreasing output, new wells are being drilled in the area with the aim of ramping up production rates, Petroleum Ministry spokesman Hamdi Abdel Aziz said on Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 10:21) and Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 4:40).

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