Al Ahram columnist Farouk Goweda says the Ismail cabinet should not have issued a statement thanking the former Supply Minister in light of an ongoing corruption investigation. The supply sector has very deeply rooted corruption issues, he adds, “with questionable relationships between officials and traders.”

El Watan’s Mahmoud Khalil is pushing the line that inflation and recent spikes in the price of key commodities is a result of deep rooted monopolies, which the domestic media usually refers to as “the [insert your commodity here] Mafia.” The so-called monopolies have been used by the government to justify contracting-out manufacturing and distribution of key goods such as infant formula and steel to the armed forces.