President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s comments yesterday on Egypt’s soaring population growth dominated the conversation on the airwaves last night. All of the nation’s talking heads went over the president’s speech on the opening day of the Global Congress on Population, Health and Development(watch runtime 14:51), and invited on health ministry officials to discuss the issue.

THE MAIN MESSAGES-

Poor education, employment and health options are the result of population growth: “If this high population wasn't present [from 2011 to the present], people wouldn't have felt that there is no good healthcare, no decent education, no decent employment,” the president told the gathering. El Sisi’s comments were echoed by Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, who described the rising population as the “biggest obstacle” to economic growth.

A hint at more drastic measures: The president suggested that Egypt faces “catastrophe” if steps aren’t taken to “regulate this freedom [to reproduce],” referencing China’s one-child policy. “They succeeded in their population control policy,” he said, stopping short of recommending specific measures.

He wants annual birth rates reduced by 80%: El Sisi said that the country needs to reduce the number of annual births to just 400k from 2.2 mn in 2022. He didn’t specify the period of time in which he sess this happening.

The Health Ministry isn’t advocating for regulation: In an interview on Al Hayah Al Youm last night,Deputy Health Minister Tarek Tawfeek said that the the government will be able to bring birth rates down by educating people, rather than resorting to legislation to control the population (watch runtime 6:13). On Masaa DMC, ministry advisor Amr Hassan said that existing initiatives have managed to bring down the annual birth count from 2.7mn in 2019 to 2.2 mn last year (watch runtime 7:29).

ALSO ON THE AIRWAVES-

The National Dialogue: Al Hayah Al Youm (watch runtime 4:50) and Masaa DMC (watch runtime 2:24) covered the events at the Dialogue yesterday, where participants discussed economic issues including the public debt, inflation and the budget deficit.

FACT CHECK- You can’t pay someone to perform the Umrah on your behalf: Fatwa trustee at Egypt’s Dar Al Ifta Khaled Omran appeared on Masaa DMC (watch runtime 6:45) to settle a recent controversy on social media stirred by scammers offering to charge less money to perform the Umrah on pilgrims’ behalf. Omran said that it is not possible to pay someone else to perform the rite, and told people to remain vigilant against scammers.

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