With the nation’s talking heads still preoccupied by politics and poultry, Lamees Al Hadidi was the only one of the bunch to take note of the surge in FX reserves during January. (We have the full story in Speed Round).

The Hona Al Asema host asked the central bank to provide a breakdown of the reserves, explaining the record m-o-m rise (watch, runtime: 1:28) before she moved on to a video recording of IMF boss Christine Lagarde giving Egypt props for surpassing the regional average for economic growth (watch, runtime: 3:56).

She then briefly turned to the presidential election to tip her hat to former MP Mohamed Anwar Al Sadat for calling on President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to open a channel for dialogue with the opposition (watch, runtime: 41:18).

Over on Kol Youm, Amr Adib was up in arms over Religious Endowments Minister Mohamed Mokhtar’s statement that voting in the upcoming elections is a religious duty, saying that there is no need to bring religion into political issues (watch, runtime 3:16). Mokhtar phoned in to defend his stance, saying he meant to promote positive participation (watch, runtime: 6:33).

Still obsessing over the drop in poultry prices, Adib called up Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed to confirm that the discounted chicken has not expired and is safe for human consumption (watch, runtime: 5:13). That was naturally his cue to bring out his inner Jack-of-all-trades, advising local producers to lower their prices in order to compete with the government, and claiming that red meat will soon see a similar drop in prices (watch, runtime 3:44)

Egyptian Poultry Association deputy head Tharwat El Zeny brought Adib back to planet earth, pointing out that selling prices can’t be lower than the cost of production. Many of them are now being forced to retail their products at EGP 20 per kg, which is still higher than the government’s price (watch, runtime: 14:39).

Over on Masaa DMC, Eman El Hosary discussed President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s visit to Oman with Egypt’s ambassador in Muscat, Mohamed Ghoneim, who said that the president is scheduled to meet with other Omani officials and some 40 businessmen over the next two days (we have details on his meeting with Sultan Qaboos bin Said in Diplomacy, below) (watch, runtime: 5:06).

Back on Hona Al Asema, Lamees spoke to Omani researcher Salem El Gahoury for an analytical take on El Sisi and Sultan Qaboos’ sit-down (watch, runtime: 5:21).

Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer discussed the upcoming meeting between Egypt and Sudan’s foreign ministers and intelligence bosses with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid. Meetings of this sort are expected to be regular to sort out the two countries’ disagreements, according to Abu Zeid (watch, runtime: 5:37).

Finally, on Al Hayah Al Youm, Public Enterprises Minister Khaled Badawi filled host Tamer Amin in on the details of Al Ghurair Group’s USD 1 bn sugar project in Minya (watch, runtime: 5:04). (We have more in the Speed Round.) Amin also spoke with New Egyptian Countryside Development head Atter Hannoura, who said that under an agreement with his company, Al Ghurair will hire local farmers to plant sugar beets for the new plant (watch, runtime: 26:28).