Lamees still on the exchange rate; Pharma wants you to know more price hikes are coming; Adib wants to know how difficult is it making cooking oil here
Hona Al Assema’s Lamees Al Hadidi appears to not be listening to guests who keep telling her not to obsess on the exchange rate, choosing this as her main topic of the evening.
CI Capital’s Hany Farahat said that despite the EGP’s appreciation, it is still hard to forecast the exchange rate on the short term. (Shocking, no?) He expects exchange rate volatility to temper in May or June (watch, runtime: 2:13). Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce secretary general Alaa Ezz told Lamees that the EGP will stabilize at between EGP 14-17 by June and between EGP 13-14 by the end of 2017. Responding to a question on when the prices of goods in the market will consequently decrease, Ezz expects it will take the market three months to respond to the decline in the exchange rate. “We also have to keep in mind that there was substantial demand for the USD in December and January as foreign companies were transferring their profits out of the country,” he said.
The episode then shifted to pharma, with the industry’s rep at the Federation of Egyptian Industries reminding Lamees that the Health Ministry promised big pharma it would consider raising prices of meds again in August to adapt to any changes to the exchange rate.
Kol Youm’s Amr Adib started his episode by criticizing Egypt’s need to import all of its the cooking oil, and asking what is so complex about manufacturing cooking oil in Egypt (watch, runtime: 5:28). Please, God, grant us patience.
Adib also joined House MPs in calling for Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker to delay new electricity price increases to the following July (watch: runtime: 7:23).
Amr then aired a report on the New Administrative Capital, where land tenders launched yesterday. Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, head of the New Capital City Council, said that half of the 700 homes slated for construction have already been completed. A total of 24,500 buildings are planned for the city, said Maqsoud, adding that the new capital will be connected to four metro lines (watch, runtime: 6:28).
Yahduth Fi Masr’s Sherif Amer spoke with House Deputy Speaker Soliman Wahdan on the delays in reaching a final list of candidates in the upcoming cabinet shuffle. Wahdan speculates that the Prime Minister is still negotiating with potential candidates, adding that the House will vote on the whole lineup, not on individual ministers.