The exchange rate and the EGP’s appreciation continued to dominate discussions on the airwaves last night.

The EGP’s appreciation is simply the result of the laws of supply and demand, Banque Misr Chairman Mohamed El Etreby told Amr Adib on last night’s Kol Youm. While the Central Bank broke a record with its single-day gain of USD 618 mn on Tuesday, Banque Misr processed transactions worth c. USD 40 mn yesterday and about USD 37 mn the day before that, El Etreby continued (watch, runtime 3:41).

On Hona Al Asema, Lamees Al Hadidi was worried that the drop might not have been due to market forces, claiming that sources told her it was the result of “administrative intervention” to ease some of the pressure caused by the recent fuel price hikes.

Lamees was also concerned about the results of the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Thursdays, saying that she hopes the committee will maintain rates, since any further increases may “paralyze investments” (watch, runtime 4:05)

The host also covered the latest developments in the Qatar story, saying that the meeting in Cairo between the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi, the UAE, and Qatar set to take place today may see the end of the diplomatic rift. The meeting in Cairo also proves that the crisis is not limited to the Gulf but that Egypt is a main part of the equation (watch, runtime: 7:47).

Back on Kol Youm, Adib spent the larger part of his episode talking about the need to combat the “wasta” (nepotism) in Egyptian institutions. MP Mostafa Bakry rang Adib to tell him that he filed a formal complaint against the Administrative Prosecution Authority (APA) for practicing nepotism during its last hiring spree, when only a handful (out of c. 70k applicants) of some staff members’ relatives and friends were given positions (watch, runtime 11:25).

Over on Masaa DMC, Osama Kamel was back on the air and interviewing Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó, who talked about Egypt’s role in curbing illegal immigration to Europe. Szijjártó also said that Egypt is on a “long and difficult” journey towards economic reform (watch, runtime 16:54).