IMF talks already impacting policy? Subsidy reform is also in the cards, with the long-awaited fuel smart cards slated for launch in FY2016-17, said Deputy Finance Ministers Kouchouk. This is the first deadline we’ve heard for the fuel smart cards since President Abdel Fattah El Sisi postponed their launch in May 2015. And regardless of the IMF package, Egypt is set to repay USD 7-8 bn in obligations due this fiscal year. You can watch part of Kouchouk’s interview with CNBC Arabia here (run time, 2:41), in which he summarises statements made during a press conference. The broadcaster doesn’t seem to have posted a full link as at dispatch time.

Subsidy cuts are back on the agenda. The Ismail government is serious about curbing fuel subsidies and repricing government services, a government source told Al Borsa last week. Fuel subsidies, in particular, are expected to be on the agenda during the IMF talks, the official added, and Cairo Metro riders could face rising ticket prices. While none of these policies are new, it’s the first serious talk of subsidy cuts since El Sisi hiked fuel prices in July 2015. A senior official at the Transport Ministry tells Al Shorouk the ministry has delayed plans to raise the price of Metro ticket, and the announcement of new electricity prices was postponed for two weeks, as we noted on Thursday. These new prices were supposed to come into effect for next power bill, but power companies have held off on that, as the Ismail cabinet is reviewing the pricing scheme, an Electricity Ministry source tells Al Borsa on Saturday.

The House of Representatives appears to backing the government’s move to IPO public-sector enterprises, with one MP telling Al Borsa that it is only a matter of time. The House committees on industry and economic affairs recently met with Investment Minister Dalia Khorshid and Public Sector Minister Ashraf El Sharkawy (who has in past publicly come out against the idea) to discuss obstacles to the listings. Discussions are no longer centered on “if” but “how,” the newspaper suggests. The Public Sector Companies Act must be amended, said the unnamed MP, and four state-owned companies are ready to float, El Sharkawy apparently told the House. Three state-owned banks could be on the auction block for partial privatization, and some MPs are reportedly in favour of selling minority stakes in one or more of them to a strategic investor. Banque du Caire is the only public bank to have been mentioned as a candidate for an IPO, although officials have previously said they were studying the sale of stakes in Arab African International Bank, United Bank of Egypt and Banque Misr. CBE Governor Tarek Amer stated back in January that two unnamed state-owned banks would IPO this year. Economics committee member Ashraf Al Araby tacitly linked the move to the IMF talks.

No gun to our head. No siree… The narrative from officialdom throughout the weekend and into this morning is that the reform agenda is 100% Made in Egypt. Tarek El Hosary, an advisor to the planning ministry, goes so far as to claim the passing of the Civil Service Act had nothing to do with the IMF talks. The nation’s ink-stained wretches are being slow to come on side: Al-Shorouk quotes a government official as noting that subsidy cuts and the repricing of state services are back on the agenda thanks to the IMF talks, and Rep. Ashraf Al Araby expressed concerns that the talks might lead the government to amend the House-approved reform agenda. Another unnamed government source (plenty of those talking to the media these days) tells Al Masry Al Youm that 14 conditions were indeed set by the IMF, some of which Egypt refused. Egypt’s biggest “No” so far: Refusing to fire 2 mn of the 5.5 mn bureaucrats presently on state payrolls.