The new one-year, 25% certificate of deposit (CDs) by Banque Misr and the National Bank of Egypt dominated the talk shows yesterday. Banque Misr Chairman Mohamed El Etreby held phone calls with most of the talking heads, explaining the decision and its intended effects on the parallel market and inflation. We have full coverage in this morning’s news well, above.

ALSO- There was plenty of airtime given to news that Egypt made USD 2.5 bn in external debt repayments in November and December, first reported by the state Middle East News Agency citing an unnamed banking official. Foreign reserves rose by nearly USD 500 mn over the course of December despite the payments, the pundits noted. Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal (watch, runtime:3:56) and Masaa DMC’s Ramy Radwan (watch, runtime: 1:45) had coverage.

DATA POINT- Some 30k civil servants will move to offices in the new administrative capital by mid-March in a pilot phase, new administrative capital CEO Khalid Abbas told Masa DMC’s Ramy Radwan in a phone call (watch, runtime:7:27.) Government employees began to make the move to the new capital this week, he said.