It was an econ-finance heavy night on the airwaves yesterday: Rumors that the Central Bank of Egypt could be about to reverse course on controversial import restrictions introduced in March got attention on the talk shows last night. We have more on this in this morning’s news well, above.

The Sisi administration’s privatization strategy featured on Ala Mas’ouleety following reports that a government committee is studying the potential IPOs of ports and other assets owned by the Transport Ministry (watch, runtime: 5:01 | 7:49). The committee will reportedly present within two months a proposal for privatizing select assets; it is reportedly headed by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly’s economic advisor, Gihan Saleh, and will also include representatives from various ministries, the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) and GAFI. Plans to merge seven of Egypt’s biggest ports under one entity and list it on the EGX were first announced by Madbouly as part of sweeping privatization plans that will see the government attract USD 40 bn in investments over the next four years.

Listing isn’t the same thing as selling, says Moussa: In a long monologue railing against critics of privatization, Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa denied that listing shares in state-owned companies is the same thing as “selling” assets and explained the benefits of leveraging foreign companies’ investments and management experience while still retaining ownership of some companies in “strategic” sectors. The IPOs of state-owned firms could bring in much-needed liquidity to the markets, and could also invite Egyptians to invest in companies through the bourse and feel a sense of ownership in state-owned assets, Rania Yacoub, board member at the EGX, told him, while reiterating his comments on the difference between selling state assets and partnering with the private sector to help operate and manage them.

The appointment of Hassan Abdalla’s new advisors, banking industry veterans Hisham Ezz Al Arab and Mohamed Naguib, also featured on Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 3:25).

Thousands of people didn’t get the memo about electricity rationing: Some 26.6k buildings and businesses have been slapped with fines of up to EGP 4k after failing to abide by the recent measures to cut electricity use, local development ministry spokesperson Khaled Qassem told Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 19:32). The government has so far managed to save about 22-25% of the electricity that goes towards roadlights, and 11% of what goes to store front signs, Qassem added.

Some 250-300 companies have taken out conditions booklets for a tender for three industrial complexes comprising 1k units in Upper Egypt for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), head of the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) Mohamed El Zalat, told Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 9:50). The ministry had slashed prices for the booklets for companies bidding for the units by more than half to EGP 300-500, from EGP 2k previously.