The presidential race continued to top discussions on the airwaves last night, making us all the more thankful for a couple nuggets of business-relevant news.

Al Ghurair Group signing a USD 1 bn investment in a vertically integrated sugar plant is reflective of the country’s improving investment climate, cabinet spokesman Ashraf Sultan told Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary. Sultan noted that the plant will help to plug Egypt’s sugar supply gap and will eventually open the door for us to export the diabetes-causing stuff. House Economic Committee Chairman Amr Ghallab also piled on the praise, saying the investment will significantly improve the business climate in Minya (watch, runtime: 5:57). We have more in Speed Round, below.

Over on Kol Youm, Supreme Council of Armed Forcesadvisor Khairat Barakat told host Amr Adib that Sami Anan’s presidential bid is illegal because he did not secure SCAF’s approval prior to announcing his intention to run. As we noted earlier this week, Anan needs permission from SCAF to resign his commission to be allowed to run as a civilian. Barakat said that SCAF will decide whether or not to greenlight Anan’s nomination based on “national security considerations” (watch, runtime: 9:36).

The spokesman for Anan’s campaign, Hazem Hosny, was having none of it, telling Adib that Anan should not face any legal issues because he is only a reserve officer and is not on active duty. Hosny reminded Adib that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi was granted the same leave in 2014, and said that SCAF refusing to do the same for Anan would be a clear indication of the institution’s bias. He also denied that Anan has been cooperating with the Ikhwan on his campaign or communicating with the group in any way (watch, runtime: 18:59).

Adib also spoke to Khaled Ali campaign spox Amr Abdel Rahman, who claimed that 400 endorsement forms signed in Ali’s favor have mysteriously gone missing. Abdel Rahman said that his candidate’s presidential bid is facing hurdles in the bureaucracy and the media alike — and lambasted Adib for not giving Ali’s campaign enough airtime on his show (watch, runtime: 9:32).

Al Hayah Al Youm’s Tamer Amin spoke to Immigration Minister Nabila Makram, who said that she is working on a campaign to encourage Egyptian expats to vote. Makram says she has already started with Egyptians residing in the UK (watch, runtime: 10:55).

Meanwhile, State Information Service Diaa Rashwan told Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi that around 530 foreign journalists residing in Egypt are now registered for media coverage of the elections, while an additional 120 will fly in for the occasion (watch, runtime: 4:12).

Lamees also spoke with Union Capital CEO Hany Tawfik about progress on the EGP 150 mn bailout fund for idle small and mid-sized factories. Tawfik explained the details of the fund, including its sources of financing and its procedures for studying companies eligible for funding packages. He noted that banks can issue loans for eligible companies under the CBE’s SME lending initiative (watch, runtime: 21:27).