A somewhat bland start to 2018’s talk shows
With Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi, Kol Youm’s Amr Adib, and Masaa DMC all taking a break last night, the airwaves were somewhat bland on the first evening of 2018.
The Supply Ministry’s price-printing policy is now the law of the land across the country, spokesperson Mamdouh Ramadan told Al Nahar TV’s Moataz El Demerdash (we have more in Speed Round, below). Ramadan stressed that the policy is not unique to Egypt and is applied in several other countries to protect all members of the supply chain. He also said that the ministry itself is not responsible for following up on the implementation of the policy, and that the burden falls on the shoulders of the Consumer Protection Agency and consumers themselves (watch, runtime: 4:31).
Terror attacks in Egypt dropped 65% in 2017 compared to the year prior, Supreme Anti-Terrorism Council member Khaled Okasha told Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer. Okasha attributed the decline to the Interior Ministry’s preemptive raids on terror hideouts, which allowed security forces to arrest a number of militants. The ministry is currently working on understanding the developments in terrorists’ tactics and their modes of operation, he said.
Egypt’s natural gas production will surpass the country’s consumption rate and create a surplus by 2H2018, head of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce’s petroleum materials division Hossam Arafat said in a phone-in to Ten TV’s Ra’y Aam. The increase in production will be of particular significance to the petrochemicals industry, and will ensure that power plants and personal vehicles alike are able to operate, Arafat said. He also noted that Egypt will no longer need to spend foreign currency on natural gas imports (watch, runtime: 2:12).
Everyone can now pre-order one of SICO Technology’s locally-made smartphones through a hotline, company Chairman Mohamed Salem told Ten TV. SICO is expecting demand on its smartphone to be high once the product hits the shelves later this month, Salem said (we have more in Telecoms + ICT, below) (watch, runtime: 1:30).