The government’s plan to cut back on public electricity consumption was still dominating the airwaves last night: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly’s meeting with the cabinet yesterday saw them discuss the measures he plans to implement to cut electricity consumption in a bid to redirect more natural gas towards exports got airtime on Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 2:39 | 4:22) and Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 7:26). Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa was particularly aggrieved about the idea of darkening Tahrir Square at night and called on ministers to exclude hotels and the tourist industry from the measures (watch, runtime: 6:59).

Yesterday’s inflation figures also got some attention: As we noted above, economist Hany Genena phoned into Salet El Tahrir (watch, runtime: 10:50) to give his take on the figures and how the central bank will likely respond at its policy meeting next week.

Does Egypt actually have ambitions to enter the semiconductor fabrication business? Apparently so, according to former Oil Minister Osama Kamal, who told Ala Mas’ouleety that the country is working on projects in the sector (watch, runtime: 7:25). He declined to provide any details but suggested that Egypt’s plentiful supply of sand makes it a good place to produce silicon chips.