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).