Inflation, presidential elections top topics on the airwaves
Positive inflation results gets minimum play on the airwaves: After what seemed like years of having ear drums perforated by the talking heads on prices, they now have their drop in inflation. And surprisingly, the news is receiving little airtime, even from Amr Adib (the most vocal one on the corrosive impact of inflation of the past year) who gave the story a pass.
Luckily, Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi was on the case. The host delved into the drop in the annual rate of inflation with Arqaam Capital senior economist Reham El Desoki. El Desoki had to explain the basics of calculating the annual rate when asked as to why there was no tangible drop in prices. The economist said inflation is expected to continue its downward trend through the remainder of this year and next. She also told Lamees that the average citizen will begin to see a noticeable difference in the prices of goods once there is enough supply to meet demand, while citizens’ purchasing power is expected to increase as the economy continues to grows and the EGP stabilizes.
However, El Desoki pointed out that these changes, despite being positive, signal to potential investors that the Egyptian economy remains in transition, which may slow foreign direct investment (watch, runtime 7:28).
Al Hadidi briefly spoke about the Education Ministry allowing some international schools to raise prices with ministry spokesperson Ahmed Khairy(watch, runtime 26:28). We have more on the issue in the Speed Round.
Kol Youm’s Amr Adib’s sole contribution to the inflation debate was discussing rising prices on stationery (apparently, he’s in charge of Back to School season for the household). Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali said a ministry-affiliated body will allocateEGP 3-4 mn per annum to buying school bags for charity. Wali also announced that Nasser Bank has begun offering student loans of up to EGP 15k for private school tuition fees (watch, runtime 5:59).
Adib also discussed the latest product of the presidential election rumor mill, namely that former Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa is among several figures mulling a run in 2018 (watch, runtime 1:37). Moussa called Adib himself to deny the rumor, saying that he’s going to sit out the presidential race (watch, runtime 3:37). The diplomat rather diplomatically sidestepped the question of whether he’d support a re-election bid by the incumbent, saying as he doesn’t know who will run against President Abdel Fattah El Sisi (watch, runtime 3:50). We’re surprised Ahmed Shafik’s name was not brought up by Adib again.
Human rights are only for the literate, right, ‘professor’? Meanwhile on 90 Minutes, Moataz El Demerdash had a chat with purported “AUC Sociology” professor Saeed Sadek about his proposal to bar illiterate citizens from getting married. Sadek said that Egypt’s illiterate — which comprise at least 30% of the population — are more likely to reject family planning and instead give birth to several children they can’t always provide for, which begets issues such as poverty, unemployment, crime, and terrorism (runtime 54:36). Your Monday Morning Eugenics Lesson is brought to you by Dr. Himmler’s Sterilization Clinic. We’re thinking this tips over from freedom of speech / academic freedom into hate speech, but, you know, color us liberals.
(Oh, and before we all go lynch AUC for running a Himmler Chair in Race Hygiene: Mr. Sadek was quoted in the press as recently as 2013 as a professor of “sociology” and of “political sociology” at AUC, but does not appear on the university’s website as a current faculty member, so we’re thinking former adjunct or retiree.)