Snapshot from the state-owned T.V for MP Ashraf Badr El-Din
In Thursday's parliamentary session, MP Ashraf Badreddin, head of the Freedom and Justice Party's economy committee and a member of Parliament's budget and planning committee, slammed the economic section of the government's annual statement, describing it as "unacceptable."
The government's annual statement was presented to the People's Assembly (the lower house of Egypt's parliament) by interim Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri on 26 February. The statement included an assessment of the government's economic performance and its plans for the year ahead.
Speaking before the People's Assembly, Badreddin declared that the statement "ignored the demands of the people." The government, he asserted, had failed to resolve Egypt's chronic economic problems, especially rising unemployment and the skyrocketing cost of living.
“The government vowed to deal with price hikes on certain strategic goods, but nothing has happened since they assumed their positions,” Badreddin said before the assembly.
The MP went on to condemn the government's apparent disregard for the squandering of monies from "private funds," which are funds raised by state institutions through means other than custom duties or taxes.
“I have an official document, which includes names of specific ministers who are getting millions from these funds,” Badreddin stated. The documents he presented to Parliamentary Speaker Saad El-Katatni, however, did not include a single minister's name, but rather those of officials in different ministries implicated in various corruption cases.
Ministers in attendance walked out of Thursday's session after being accused by Badreddin without evidence. After being criticised by the parliamentary speaker and several MPs, Badreddin apologised, after which the ministers returned to face criticism by MPs regarding government failures.
In February, Egypt's finance minister estimated the total worth of these private funds at LE36.1 billion (roughly $6 billion), adding that they would soon be integrated into the state budget.
In June of last year, the Central Auditing Authority reported that Egypt had 6,361 such "private funds," worth a total of LE47.4 billion (some $8 billion).
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