The airwaves were quiet last night. Lamees El Hadidi gave us her on-point macroeconomic two-cents, devoting a lengthy segment to explaining persisting global inflation and the worldwide fuel shortage (watch, runtime: 1:40 and runtime: 4:07). An explosion of demand for essential commodities is weighing on the global economy, translating into a gradual rise in inflation m-o-m here at home, with the September headline figure reported by Capmas yesterday hitting a 20-month high. You can watch the highlight of her report last night here (runtime: 3:09).

Lamees spoke to Arqam Capital’s Noaman Khalid, who echoed the global sentiment that the world is running the risk of persistent inflation that may linger for months to come (watch, runtime: 2:37 and runtime: 1:39).

Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said the same to Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa, noting that supply and demand are currently unbalanced, and that this will “necessarily impact prices in Egypt” (watch, runtime: 21:00). The price increase has so far been across the board, affecting everything from basic commodities to energy to freight charges, Maait said.

The start of the academic year, meanwhile, continued to be a popular topic as the talking heads follow the first few days of business-as-usual at schools and universities since covid. El Hekaya’s Amr Adib took note of the throngs of school parents waiting outside schools to pick up their children (watch, runtime: 7:23).

The mysterious disappearance of what is being dubbed the “Sahel Bridge microbus” also got attention from the talking heads, with some saying the missing bus may have fallen off of a bridge in Embaba. Accounts of the incident were mixed, and the bus was yet to be found as of midnight. Adib and Moussa were both following the story (watch, runtime: 1:28 and runtime: 1:29).