Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said Tuesday that his government is challenged with several problems such as a 13.6 percent unemployment rate as well as poverty, noting that the country’s poverty map provokes questions on the soundness of subsidies.
During a celebration on Tuesday, marking the commencement of 70 million euros in EU-financed projects in cooperation with the Social Fund for Development, he said the government is targeting improvements to technical education, which he described as a “lifeline for the economic slowdown.”
He said that the SFD’s poverty map discloses rampant poverty across Egyptian provinces, which brings up the question: do subsidies reach those who really need it?” He added that social justice will not come true in a society that “supports the wealthy more than the poor, and provides luxury vehicles while a lady stands in line for bread”.
Mehleb said he had agreed with the Minister of Telecommunication to operate a hotline for citizens’ complaints, which will go into action within 15 days. He urged citizens to have patience on the government. “Citizens will be patient since they have already been for long,” he said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
