The airwaves covered everything from updates on the violence in Palestine to the seasonal fall of the EGP against the USD.

The EGP falling to 17.86 per greenback is normal and expected due to seasonal factors including Ramadan, former Banque Misr deputy chairman Sahar El Damaty told Yahduth Fi Masr host Sherif Amer. Ramadan sees a spike in demand for food products driving up imports, while umrah season also drives up demand for FX. The rise in exchange rates is only temporary and will be reversed once the seasonal pressures pass, El Damaty said (watch, runtime: 3:15).

Egypt has ample reserves of all commodities heading into Ramadan, Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy told Al Hayah Al Youm. He provided host Tamer Amin with the list of prices for subsidized commodities, including rice and poultry, all of which will be available at the Ahlan Ramadan supermarket expo (watch, runtime: 6:16 and runtime: 5:59).

Guangzhou Goodsense Egypt’s USD 100 mn aluminum composite panels factory will cover half of domestic demand once its three production lines are up and running, Chairman and Saudi investor Mohamed Al Khaldi told Masaa DMC’s Osama Kamal. Al Khaldi noted that Egypt’s demand for aluminum composite panels is relatively high, which encouraged the company’s investors to establish the factory (watch, runtime: 3:08). The panels are used for both construction and decorative purposes, Managing Director Sherif Saleh said (watch, runtime: 3:17). Watch the full interview here (runtime: 23:13).

Kamal also had a chat with Orascom Development CEO Khaled Bichara about sustainable development in the real estate and technology industries, as well as the rising trend among real estate developers to develop small but fully equipped cities. You can watch the full interview here (runtime: 40:19).

48 MPs split from FEP following internal leadership shakeup: 48 members of the Free Egyptians Party (FEP), including former head of FEP’s parliamentary bloc Alaa Abed, have split from the party and plan to form a new political party, an unnamed parliamentary source tells Al Shorouk. The MPs’ departure from the FEP came hours after FEP Chairman Essam Khalil issued a decision to replace Abed with Ayman Aboul Ela. Khalil told Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi that the shakeup in leadership came after deliberations in parliament, and denied that he ousted Abed for wanting to merge the FEP with the Support Egypt Coalition if it were to become a party. Khalil maintained, however, that the FEP has no intention of merging with the coalition and plans to remain independent (watch, runtime: 6:50).

Masaa DMC, Hona Al Asema, and Kol Youm also continued their coverage of the developments in Palestine, including a UN Security Council emergency meeting held yesterday. We have more details in Speed Round, below (watch, runtime: 5:18 and runtime: 3:14).