Imports led the inaugural talk shows of 2023, after Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly held a presser at the weekend (watch, runtime: 16:48) on government efforts to clear the backlog of goods at ports. The central bank on Thursday lifted the requirement to use letters of credit to finance imports and rather go back to using documentary collection in an effort to clear the longstanding backlog (more on that in our Economy section, above.)

Efforts to clear the imports backlog send a positive message to investors, economics professor Karim El Omda told Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa (watch, runtime: 3:22). El Omda also urged the Finance Ministry to look into supporting importers who may now have to pay additional fees for the time their containers spent on hold at ports.

Top priority goes to medical imports: The government is working to clear meds and medical equipment through ports before other goods, Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar reiterated to Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 4:34), reassuring viewers that there have been no delays to patient care and surgeries on the back of the imports jam.

ALSO- Authorities released 27 more pretrial detainees who received pardons from the presidential pardon committee yesterday, MP and committee member Tarek El Khouly told Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 4:10). The committee granted amnesty to more than 1.2k detainees in total in 2022, MP and committee member Mohamed Abdel Aziz told Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 3:33).