We have a budget now, right? The House of Representatives has approved the government’s FY2016-17 draft budget, according to Reuters. Don’t crack open the champagne just yet, there is one more hurdle as the House Speaker Ali Abdel Aal said the government “should have sent the draft budget to the Council of State (Maglis El Dowla) first and since the government did not do so [the parliament] must fix this constitutional error.” (Is anyone else is having flashbacks to the early 2000s, when legislation was almost-routinely overturned — by the Supreme Constitutional Court, if memory serves?)

Total spending under the budget would swell by EGP 1.25-1.5 bn if the House approves an amendment to the Civil Service Act boosting annual wage increases to 7% from 5%, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy said on Tuesday, according to Ahram Online. The government agreed to the increase last week following a meeting with the House Manpower Committee, said Planning Minister Ashraf Al Araby.