Topping coverage of Egypt in the foreign press this morning are pickups of Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegene’s rejection of having the World Bank to act as arbiter in the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Coverage was mostly limited to wire pickups. “Seeking professional support is one thing, transferring (arbitration) to an institution is another thing. So we told them that this is not acceptable with our side,” Hailemariam had said over the weekend after returning from Cairo and his meeting President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

From the League of the Misinformed: The time is not right to implement the Supply Ministry’s plan to eventually switch to cash-based welfare payments rather than commodity subsidies, analysts and MPs tell Al Monitor’s Ahmed Gomaa. Rising prices would make it difficult for subsidy recipients to access the commodities they rely on through the current subsidy system, particularly bread, Cairo University economics professor Hisham Ibrahim says. House Economic Committee member Rep. Basant Fahmi also expressed concern that moving away from in-kind bread subsidies would push up inflation, particularly as the new system will see bread loaves sold at their actual cost. However, Fahmi and others believe that the switch “would curb corruption and eliminate waste witnessed under the in-kind subsidy system currently in place, and that it would also ensure delivering state subsidies to their proper recipient.”