It was a quiet night on the airwaves last night, with the pundits praising the Bank of Russia’s move last week to approve the EGP as a trade currency, as well as the arrival of the first flight to Egypt from China in years.

Moscow’s inclusion of the EGP as a currency of trade will make it easier for us to import from Russia without putting any pressure on our USD reserves, Amr Al Samdouni, secretary-general of the Federation of Egyptian Chamber of Commerce’s international transport and logistics division, told Salet El Tahrir in a phone call (watch, runtime: 7:43.) Importers will now be able to open letters of credit in EGP to release shipments coming from Russia, Al Samdouni clarified.

Can we do the same with China? Market watcher Hany Aboul Fotouh was also keen on the agreement, calling for a similar pact with China (watch, runtime: 7:01.) This was echoed by Yomn El Hamaky, economics professor at Ain Shams University, who called on the Egyptian and Chinese central banks to agree on mechanisms to activate an already existing agreement that allows for trade in local currencies in a phone call to Al Hadath Al Youm (watch, runtime: 8:31.)

Price wars in the tourism sector? A yearslong pricing war between local tourism companies has decreased quality in the sector and spooked potential visitors, Egyptian Tourism Federation member Ali Ghoneim told Al Hadath Al Youm in a phone call (watch, runtime: 9:35.) Ghoneim was invited to speak as part of a segment on the return of Chinese tourists to the local market after Beijing lifted strict covid restrictions (more on that in What We’re Tracking Today, above.)