Last night’s talk shows for Sunday 26 January 2020
It was a mixed bag of nuts on the airwaves last night, with the virus outbreak in China taking center stage: Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal called Egypt’s Ambassador to Beijing, Mohamed El-Badry, who confirmed that Egyptian expats in China have not yet reported any infected cases, noting that 350 Egyptians live in Wuhan (watch, runtime: 13:52). Al Kahera Alaan’s Lamees El Hadidi dug a bit deeper and called a couple of Egyptians who live in China and have sought evacuation. She then phoned Foreign Minister Spokesman Ahmed Hafez who confirmed that the embassy communicated with the Chinese authorities in Wuhan and the capital Beijing to help the Egyptian community in light of the restrictions imposed on the city (watch, runtime: 12:50).
This week’s GERD talks in Washington also got a mention: Assal highlighted Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry's visit to Washington to participate in the crunch GERD talks with Sudan and Ethiopia (watch, runtime: 0:55).
Al Hayah Al Youm is keeping an eye on the EGP: Fakhry El Feky, professor of economics at Cairo University, told Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal that the appreciation of the EGP against the greenback is due to the government’s economic reform program. The supply of foreign currency has increased as a result of the rebound in the tourism sector and increasing exports, which has allowed the government to relax FX restrictions, he said (watch, runtime: 6:04).