Finance Minister Amr El Garhy’s interview with Lamees Al Hadidi was the only thing to stand out in another tepid night in the airwaves.

The second USD 1.25 bn disbursement of the IMF’s USD 12 bn extended facility will be checked into state coffers within the week, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy told Lamees on last night’s Hona Al Asema. The minister also said month-on-month inflation levels are expected to decline gradually, but it will take time for consumers to feel the change.

Speaking on the murmurs of an upcoming EUR 1-1.5 bn eurobond issuance supposedly happening in September, El Garhy confirmed that there are discussions on these happening. He said, however, that the ministry has yet to conduct a study to determine whether this will take place.

The effect of fiscal reform measures, such as new fuel and electricity price hikes, will reflect on July inflation rates, but it will not be as hard on them as November’s EGP floatation, “because at that time, it was a combination of fuel price hikes and currency liberalization all at once.”

On the CBE’s recent decision to hike key interest rates by 200 bps, El Garhy said that the impact on the budget represents the main challenge, as the hike was not factored in. The impact might not be so substantial though, as the Finance Ministry calculates average rates and the hike is likely only temporary. Interest comprises around EGP 307 bn of Egypt’s EGP 1.2 tn budget, from EGP 292 bn previously. Interest on Suez Canal certificates will not rise in step, El Garhy also said (watch, runtime 10:29).

On Kol Youm, Amr Adib was still on the Qatar mosalsal, speaking to Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah’s Editor in Chief Ahmed Al Jarallah, who said that Qatar failed to play by the rules when it came to the Riyadh agreement (watch, runtime 7:26).

Adib then moved on to talk about the launch of the new Toyota Fortuner Egypt assembly line. Arab Organization for Industry (AOI) head Abdel El Aziz Seif El Din said in a report that the original agreement with Toyota was inked in 2010 and that the AOI will manufacture three models of the Toyota Fortuner under a new agreement. 14 factories will be involved in the process, he said (watch, runtime 3:53).

Also harping on Qatar was political analyst Abdel Moneim Said told Yahduth fi Misr’s Sherif Amer that the contents of the Riyadh Agreement that were just made public prove that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain banded up against the small Gulf country.

Over on Masaa’ DMC, Health Ministry spokesperson Khaled Mogahed denied news of shortages in baby formula supplies (watch, runtime 4:51).