At the ruling National Democratic Party’s (NDP’s) annual congress on Sunday, Housing Minister Ahmed el-Maghrabi declared that the high economic growth rates realized by Egypt in recent years “have not been equally distributed” among citizens.
Gamal Mubarak, meanwhile, head of the party’s influential Policies Secretariat, vowed that the government would direct increased public spending to benefit the poor, pointing to his planned developmental project targeting one thousand of Egypt’s poorest villages.
For his part, Social Solidarity Minister Ali el-Meselhi said his ministry was working to improve the quality of subsidized bread and extend the distribution networks by which it is made available to the public.
Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali, meanwhile, said that he was aware of his unpopularity as a result of his austerity programs. “We can’t open up a lot right now,” he said. “We don’t want to borrow again and let future generations pay the interest.”
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
