LEGISLATION WATCH- The Social Solidarity Ministry will present a draft of the new Social Welfare Act to the House of Representatives “within days,” Minister Ghada Wali said on Sunday, according to Al Mal. The bill, if passed, would require the government to provide families eliminated from the Takaful or Karama social welfare programs with jobs.

Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy will present his ministry’s food security strategy to the Madbouly Cabinet “soon,” the minister said at a press conference on Sunday, according to a local source. The new strategy will track the country’s commodity production and consumption rates to able crop production forecasts and better anticipate shortages. The ministry expects the new strategy to reduce the country’s EGP 50 bn wheat subsidy bill by 10-15%, according to El Moselhy.

Egypt, Sudan begin trial runs on electricity grid connection project in two weeks: Egypt and Sudan will begin trial runs for the first phase of a USD 60-70 mn electricity interconnection project in two weeks at a capacity of 100 MW, local news reported. A government source said 95% of the project has been completed.

A government committee mandated with defining Egypt’s informal economy is set to meet for the first time this month. The committee’s work comes in light of the Madbouly government’s bid to convince the World Bank and the IMF to agree to include the informal economy in calculations of Egypt’s GDP.