In a mixed night for business, the World Youth Forum and Saudi Arabia’s clampdown on corruption were the topics of the evening.

Amr El Garhy interview: The finance minister had chat with Al Hayah Al Youm’s Tamer Amin about the VAT (watch, runtime: 3:49). El Garhy quite rightly dismissed the belief of previous governments that stability in FX rates reflected a stable economy. The result, he said, was hobble exports, poor economic competitiveness and drain on foreign reserves (watch, runtime 1:39). The minister also signalled that productivity has to be a key factor in weighing decisions on privatization, unlike in past rounds (watch, runtime: 2:01).

Smiley Face in prime time: Over on Kol Youm, host Amr Adib welcomed Consumer Protection Agency head Atef “Smiley Face” Yacoub to talk about amendments to the Consumer Protection Act. Yacoub defended the controversial provision that would require that prices (including VAT) be printed on products as well as measures that would regulate the time frame for returning and exchanging products and requiring that all retailers provide customers with a printed receipt (watch, runtime 4:39). Smiley Face noted that the agency studied similar legislation in Europe and accounted for input in “community dialogue” sessions with business, residents of Upper Egypt and government (watch, runtime 2:05).

Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi followed up on Saudi Arabia’s corruption crackdown, which government sources assured her would not affect Saudi investments in Egypt. According to the host’s sources, the government will be looking to expand Saudi investments in Egypt come December. Al Tayyar Group Egypt Chairman Ashraf Shiha phoned in to say that the company was unaffected by the developments in KSA, despite reports that the company’s owner Nasser Al Tayyar is among the Saudi businessmen currently under investigation (watch, runtime 2:40).

It’s business as usual for four Egypt-based firms affiliated with Sheikh Saleh Kamel, banking sector sources told Lamees. These include Al Baraka Bank, Ismailia Misr Poultry, Arab Moltaka Investment and Arab Engineering; shares of the first three were down in trading again yesterday. Egyptian banks have yet to freeze the domestic assets of Saudi investors arrested in Mohamed bin Salman’s ostensible crackdown on corruption (watch, runtime 13:40).

World Youth Forum coverage: Adib, Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer and Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary also had coverage of the World Youth Forum.