Hona El Asema’s Lamees El Hadidi was all about the economy last night, covering inflation as well as the role of the Central Bank of Egypt and subsidies.

But first, she spoke to CI Capital chairman Mahmoud Attallah on the conclusion yesterday of CIB’s of the investment bank to a consortium of investors (which we cover at length in the Speed Round). When pressed, Attallah didn’t have much to say about CI Capital’s potential IPO, telling Lamees that the issue has yet to be discussed with CIB. He also told Lamees that CI Capital has reached an agreement with its new shareholders on its expansion plans, including branching out in the UAE and covering GCC markets (watch, runtime 6:19).

Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy phoned in to tell El Hadidi that, as of 1 April, that only cooking oil, rice, and sugar will be covered under the commodity subsidy program (watch, runtime: 6:14). At the moment, welfare recipients can choose to use their EGP 21-per-month subsidy ration to purchase some 56 subsidized commodities. State-owned grocers participating in the system will begin dispensing packages containing the three products, while other products will be sold at market prices. According to El Moselhy, the move would curb subsidies fraud and leakage into the black market. The minister also took the time to explain his efforts to clean up the ration card system by pointing out that out of 91 mn citizens, 71 mn Egyptians are subsidy beneficiaries (watch, runtime 10:34).

The conversation segued nicely into your regular Hona El Asema programming of railing against inflation, with the CBE bearing the brunt of Lamees’ rage last night. She said the CBE is falling short of its mandate of maintaining and ‘inflation-targeting’ monetary policy (watch, runtime 7:25). Union Capital CEO Hany Tawfik phoned in to say that the House of Representatives — of which he’s pleasantly skeptical — has the right to summon the CBE governor and the Finance Minister to explain their policies (watch, runtime: 3:45).

Lamees also covered the finances of the Cairo Metro, with senior Metro official Essam Mounir suggesting the operator will attempt to brave public backlash yet again to hike ticket prices. According to Mounir, the company wants to double ticket prices to EGP 2, as this will be the fastest way to rescue the Metro from its mountain of debt (watch, runtime 6:53). We’ve heard that one before.

Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer spoke to Deputy Finance Minister for Tax Policies Amr El Monayer about the upcoming stamp tax, which El Monayer confirmed will be referred to today’s cabinet meeting for approval. El Monayer seemed perplexed by the stock market losing EGP 3.7 bn yesterday, maintaining that the stamp tax came as a surprise to no one.

DMC’s Eman El Hossary interviewed Administrative Prosecution Authority head Ali Rezk to talk about corruption (watch, runtime 1:55).