It was another econ-heavy night on the airwaves, this time centered on President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s speech during a factory inauguration ceremony in Abu Rawash and his promise to help clear our backlogged ports soon.

Banks to secure FX for letters of credit to help clear import backlogs? El Sisi suggested that banks will in the next four days acquire the foreign currency required to cover letters of credit for goods stuck at ports. The president was speaking a day after the government said it was working on a plan to release the remaining goods from ports, which it valued at around USD 9.5 bn. Speaking during the ceremony yesterday, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said that authorities have agreed to prioritize the release of USD 4-4.5 bn worth of commodities from ports including those required for manufacturing, reiterating cabinet spokesperson Nader Saad from a day earlier (watch, runtime: 5:51).

Remember: Authorities have pledged to scrap the requirement for businesses to use letters of credit to finance imports by the end of this month as part of its agreement with the IMF to transition to a flexible exchange rate.

Cabinet will also be publishing a weekly tally for goods released from ports, detailing the amount and types of goods it has released each week, Madbouly said. El Sisi and Madbouly’s statements got attention internationally: Bloomberg.

El Sisi’s speech was the top story on the airwaves last night, receiving coverage from Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 3:22), Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 1:44), and Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 2:23).

MEANWHILE- The heads of the two largest state-owned banks made appearances on the airwaves last night to back up the central bank’s move last week to introduce a limit on overseas FX withdrawals. Banque Misr chief Mohamed Eletreby on Kelma Akhira with Lamees El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 20:01) and National Bank of Egypt Chairman Hisham Okasha phoned in to El Hekaya to speak with Amr Adib about the dash for FX (watch, runtime: 15:35). We have more on this in this morning’s What We’re Tracking Today, above.

Don’t hold your breath over new high-interest certificates: It's unlikely that we’ll see new high-interest certificates of deposit from the NBE, Okasha told Adib. And Eletreby explained to El Hadidi how much high-interest CDs cost banks and therefore need to be studied very carefully.