Egypt’s headline inflation decelerates, Cabinet didn’t hike 95-octane petrol prices
Save for continuous coverage of the political developments in Paris, there was no single topic that featured heavily on the airwaves last night.
The deceleration of headline inflation in November came on the back of the prices of food products falling or remaining stable, economist Mostafa Badra told Al Hayah Al Youm (we have the full breakdown of last month’s inflation figures in Speed Round, below). Badra largely blamed traders for price gouging and driving up inflation figures during the previous months (watch, runtime: 06:04).
Cabinet spokesman Nader Saad vehemently denied rumors that the government hiked 95-octane petrol prices, telling Al Hayah Al Youm that this was one of seven bits of “fake news” Cabinet has quashed over the past five days (watch, runtime: 07:33).
British Coventry University’s decision to set up a campus in the new administrative capital in cooperation with El Sewedy Education is the fruit of the government’s efforts to diversify the educational systems available in Egypt, Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said on Hona Al Asema (watch, runtime: 05:03). El Sewedy Education Chairman Ahmed El Sewedy also talked about the institution, whose staff will be highly trained Egyptians (watch, runtime: 03:25). We have more on the story in Health + Education, below.
Deputy Education Minister Mohamed Megahed had a chat about plans to develop technical education in the country with Hona Al Asema’s Lama Gebril (watch, runtime: 03:17).
Egypt’s ties with the EU were in the limelight on Al Hayah Al Youm, where former assistant foreign minister Gamal Bayoumi discussed European trade with and investment in Egypt since the signing of the EU-Egypt Association Agreement in 2001 (watch, runtime: 06:58)
The state has spent some EGP 515 bn over the past four years to upgrade the energy sector, Electricity Ministry spokesman Ayman Hamza said on Al Hayah Al Youm. Hamza praised the steps taken since 2014 to help Egypt meet its domestic energy needs and begin exporting power to other countries, including Jordan and Libya (watch, runtime: 05:23).
El Hekaya’s Amr Adib continued to fixate on the explicit photos allegedly taken atop one of the Giza Pyramids and called on the Supreme Council of Antiquities’ secretary general, Mostafa Wazery, to discuss the matter at length (watch, runtime: 15:14).