The draft state budget led the conversation on the talk shows last night, after Finance Minister Mohamed Maait presented the draft budget for the next fiscal year to the House of Representatives earlier in the day.

“The government has linked financial performance to technical performance within the ministries — this is a systematic change,” Ahmed El Sayed, Finance Ministry undersecretary and head of the Central Administration for Public Revenue Budgeting, told talk show host Sherif Amer on Yahduth Fi Masr (watch, runtime: 6:31). “The budget reflects the government’s concern for citizens.”

“The government is on its way to achieving more comprehensiveness of the budget —these changes are completely unprecedented,” said Mostafa Salem, a representative from the Budget and Planning Committee on El Hayah El Youm (watch, runtime: 14:07), referring to the newly-introduced Unified Budget Act, which combines the budgets of all 59 of the state’s economic bodies and the state budget.

** We have a deep dive into the ins and outs of the draft budget in our lead story in the news well above.

ALSO WORTH NOTING- “Let it rot” is a growing initiative to boycott fish: A new campaign to boycott buying fish amid a rise in merchants’ prices also got airtime last night. The project was first launched in Port Said before gaining traction in seven other governorates including Alexandria, Suez, and Ismailia.

And it looks like it’s working: “Fish prices in Port Said Governorate have begun to decline since the launch of the initiative. A kilo of fish currently starts at EGP 50, after previously soaring to record levels of EGP 250 per kilo,” said boycott coordinator Wessam El Saftit in a phone call with Azza Mustafa on Salet El Tahrir(watch, runtime: 8:01). “The boycott will run until Sham El Nessim,” El Safty added. The topic also got airtime on Yahduth Fi Masr (watch, runtime: 8:33) and El Hayah El Youm (watch, runtime: 4:53).

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