Finance Minister Amr El Garhy blanketed the airwaves last night to sell the nation on customs hikes, appearing on Hona El Assema, Kol Youm and Sada El Balad to reassure audiences that the measures imposed this weekend were in the best interests of the nation. He discussed the upsides of the decision and compliance with the World Trade Organization with Lamees Al Hadidy (watch: runtime:16:14), dispelled exaggerated fears with Amr Adib (watch: runtime: 8:14), and explained ways to adapt to the decision with the creature that is Ahmed Moussa. Details of his statements are in our Speed Round coverage of the story.

Adib praised the decision to raise customs on what he called “luxury items. “Every day, we’ll see new economic measures to regulate the market after the floatation,” he said (watch: runtime: 2:08).

CI Capital will IPO in 2017, said CI Capital chief Mahmoud Attallah, was interviewed by Lamees to discuss CIB’s sale of a 71.94% stake in Egypt’s second-largest investment bank. On appetite for the sale, he said simply that “CIB contacted some businessmen and they quickly approved buying into it,” he said. There investors are unrelated, he noted, stating that their identities cannot be revealed (watch: runtime: 18:15).

Last week’s unpopular (with growers) decision to eliminate tariffs on poultry was also discussed at length by the talk show hosts. Lamees had Ismail cabinet spokesperson Ashraf Sultan, who said that cabinet is likely reinstate tariffs on poultry in two days after Prime Minister Sherif Ismail tasked a committee with studying the move following a meeting with the Egyptian Poultry Association, Al Borsa reported. The association had threatened to sue to have the measure scrapped, Al Borsa reported (watch: runtime: 3:29).

The apparent reversal was welcomed by poultry producers. One of them, MP El Sayed Hassan, called to say that domestic production capacity can meet demand and promised that if the decision was reversed, poultry companies would double production and sell to the Supply Ministry at cheaper prices. Ahmed El Wakil, head of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce called in to praise the decision to restore tariffs (watch: runtime: 5:14).

MP Ehab Ghataty, who attended Saturday’s meeting with the poultry association. spoke with Amr Adib on the issue, saying the decision to remove tariffs was based on misinformation. “The prime minister had been informed that there was a 20-25% shortfall in supply of chicken in the market,” he said (Watch: running time: 3:55). He met with other industry insiders who promised never to raise the prices of poultry. (And if the MP is buying that, we property in the New Valley with Mediterranean sea views for sale.)