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Tuesday, 23 April 2019

Mixed night on Egypt’s airwaves: constitutional referendum, Arab stock exchange conference, electricity policy

After two days of talking up the constitutional referendum, the chattering class that dominates our nation’s nighttime talk shows seemed to run out of steam.

The third and last day of the referendum still got some play, with Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal pushing out the government’s message (watch, runtime: 4:12) that poll booths were as crowded as Mogamma El Tahrir on a Saturday morning. Meanwhile, the results are in from polling stations aborad, National Elections Commission Vice President Mahmoud El Sherif said, adding that there will not be a fourth day of polling in Egypt.

And for your daily dose of Amr Adib: El Hekaya’s Amr Adib rang up EGX Chairman Mohamed Farid for a comment on the Arab Federation of Exchanges’ annual conference, which kicks off this morning and continues tomorrow in Cairo (watch, runtime: 5:20). Farid noted that this year’s conference is special, given that Egypt is assuming the federation’s 2019 presidency and the recent election of an Egyptian secretary general.

No penalty for low-income homes, small businesses that are behind on their electricity bills: Also getting some airtime was an Electricity Ministry decision to forgive for lower-income homes and small-business customers a 17% interest late fee on electricity bills, Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary reported (watch, runtime: 2:38). The ministry will waive late fees on their overdue bills in a bid to expedite collection while “taking into account the social dimension.” Ministry spokesperson Ayman Hamza told El Hosary that the decision will take effect immediately, and that they will open the door for on-installment payments. This came after the ministry announced it had raised interest rates on overdue bills to 17.5% from 16.5%.

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