Back to the complete issue
Tuesday, 8 September 2020

New “smart transportation” system, consumer facilities top stories on last night’s talk shows

We were finally treated to some econ news last night, as former IMF advisor Fakhry El Fiqi discussed yesterday’s foreign reserves figures. Also getting attention: the new “smart system” for Egypt’s roads, new facilities on offer through the government spending program, and flooding in Beheira Governorate.

Economy’s resilience amid covid-19: Salat Al Tahrir’s Azza Moustafa spoke with former advisor to the International Monetary Fund Fakhry El Fiqi, who said that the uptick in Egypt’s foreign exchange reserves confirmed the resilience of the the country’s economy in the face of the pandemic. He noted that reserves have been steadily increasing for three consecutive months. Meanwhile, gold reserves have reached 79.5 tonnes, giving Egypt the sixth-largest gold reserves in the Arab world, he said (watch, runtime: 10:19).

El Sisi calls for “smart” road system: Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa covered President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s Ittihadiya meeting to review the implementation of the new “smart transportation” system, which aims to improve traffic flow and the movement of goods. The new system will rely on advanced communications systems to monitor roads, collect information, identify places of congestion, monitor accidents and guide drivers. The first phase of the project will include busy arteries such as the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, Cairo-Ismailia Desert Road, and the Shubra-Banha El Hurr road (watch, runtime: 7:24). Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal also covered the news (watch, runtime: 5:22).

Flooding in Beheira: El Hekaya’s Amr Adib spoke with Beheira governor Hisham Amna, who discussed the flooding of farming lands in the governorate, which happened as the result of overflows from the flooding that occurred in Sudan. He said that the flooding covered some 17 feddans and there were no homes on flooded lands. Amna added that the governorate had addressed some 2k violations in the area along the Nile before the flooding broke out (watch, runtime: 4:14).

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.