It’s (legislative) Groundhog Day: Legislation was once again the talk of the town on last night’s talk shows after the House of Representatives passed several bills yesterday (all of which we look into in detail in Speed Round), including a few that had stirred controversy the previous day. The only notable exception was Vice Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk’s sit-down with Hona Al Asema’s Reham Ibrahim to explain the economic reform program and its benefits.

An uptick in investment helped GDP growth rise to 5.4% in FY2017-18, which Kouchouk noted is a huge leap from the 2% GDP growth rate Egypt was averaging between 2011 and 2014. Kouchouk also pointed to other indicators such as the reduction of unemployment to 10.6% as of March 2018. He also dispelled rumors that the government is planning to raise subsidized bread prices, particularly since it would affect around 75 mn citizens.

Energy subsidy cuts were an absolute must, without which state coffers would have had to dole out another EGP 215 bn, Kouchouk said. He reminded viewers that these expenditures are being redirected towards creating new jobs and shoring up the social safety net, including expanding the Takaful and Karama programs to benefit 2.5 mn people (watch, runtime: 12:59).

Kouchouk’s main talking point throughout the interview was that the government is not leaving people high and dry with its reforms, and is committed to introducing measures that will help increase citizens’ ability to cope with the repercussions of reform. Chief among these measures is the government’s move to increase wages for some 5.5 mn civil servants and raise the minimum threshold for income tax breaks, which he said should benefit more than 20 mn citizens (watch, runtime: 24:40).

Rep. Medhat Al Sherif discussed the Sovereign Wealth Fund Act with Hona Al Asema’s Reham Ibrahim. Al Sherif explained the purpose of the EGP 200 bn fund, whose capital he said is expected to exceed EGP 1 tn once it brings all of Egypt’s underutilized assets under its umbrella. A committee mandated with compiling a database of these untapped assets has thus far listed around 4,130 assets, Al Sherif said, without disclosing further details (watch, runtime: 6:09). The fund’s success hinges on it being managed efficiently, Al Sherif said, adding that the fund must also be subject to strict auditing and regulation (watch, runtime: 6:16).

The establishment of the fund is part of the government’s administrative reform drive, investment export Osama Mourad said. The fund would allow for a “regulated” type of privatization that does not necessarily entail the sale of state assets and would instead rely on involving the private sector in managing these assets, Mourad noted (watch, runtime: 6:15).

Rep. Osama Heikal was also back on the airwaves to defend the Press and Media Act, including articles that have repeatedly come under fire for undermining freedom of expression. Heikal told Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer that social media users naturally have the right to express their opinions through their personal accounts, but quickly rolled back on the idea by saying that social media must be subject to stringent regulation to avoid the dissemination of “false news” and rumors. Social media accounts would only be blocked if they are seen as posing a threat to national security, he said. Heikal also explained to Amer that, once President Abdel Fattah El Sisi ratifies the law, the current boards and heads of the three media regulatory bodies — the National Media Authority, the National Press Authority, and the Supreme Media Council — will see a shakeup (watch, runtime: 3:00 and runtime: 3:03).

House reps. also blanketed the airwaves to defend the bill granting Egyptian citizenship to residents in exchange for EGP 7 mn. Parliament spokesman Salah Hassaballah said the legislation is mostly geared towards investors and businessmen (watch, runtime: 7:07) while Rep. Shoukry Al Gendy reiterated that citizenship will only be granted to those who pass a thorough security screening and meet other requirements (watch, runtime: 4:56).

National security concerns with the law: The only detractor of the law was the Wafd Party’s assistant head, Yasser Koura, who suggested that opening the floor for people from any country to obtain the Egyptian citizenship might be an issue for national security. Koura also said the bill should have required that the payment be made in foreign currency (watch, runtime: 4:05).