Nasr, El Garhy blanket the airwaves after Investment Act passes
The Investment Act, which finally passed the House of Representatives yesterday, was once again the topic of the night on the airwaves (we have that covered in the Speed Round).
Investment Minister Sahar Nasr told Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Asal that she is preparing a draft of the Investment Act’s executive regulations for Prime Minister Sherif Ismail to review. The House of Representatives will also have to review and sign off on the regulations. Nasr denied there being any tension or disagreement with any other member of the Cabinet economic group.
Nasr also updated Asal on her trip to DC, where she met with representatives from a number of top companies, including General Electric, and other players in the fields of power and renewable energy (watch, runtime 12:16).
Speaking to Amr Adib over on ONTV’s Kol Yom, Nasr said she expects the executive regulations to the Investment Act to be issued in a month (watch, runtime 7:02).
Adib also spoke to Finance Minister Amr El Garhy about the showdown with the House of Representatives over the 10% hardship raise for state employees not covered by the Civil Service Act. Cabinet (correctly) maintains that it cannot afford to foot the bill with which MPs are trying to saddle it (watch, runtime 8:07). (More on that in Speed Round.)
Over on Hona Al Asema, Lamees Al Hadidi spoke to Banque Misr Chairman Mohamed ElEtreby about ads for a Naeem-managed Banque Misr fund that some allege can be read as suggesting the bank raised interest rates on deposits to 26%. El Etreby denied the news and confirmed that he asked the advertising company to pull the ad (watch, runtime 6:37).
Lamees also spoke to Amer Group CEO Mansour Amer, who told the host that he stepped as chairman of Porto Group on Thursday to ensure the two companies have fully independent management teams (watch, runtime 4:44).
With Ramadan closing in, Lamees also briefly talked about food prices and the government’s preparations for the month. Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Khaled Abdel Dayem said low-income consumers can purchase staple goods at discounted prices at some 129 state-backed outlets (watch, runtime 2:29).