Back to the complete issue
Tuesday, 17 April 2018

Cabinet salaries, bread prices in the budget, and Syria airstrikes on the airwaves last night

It was a bland night of miscellany on the airwaves, with the nation’s talking heads discussing cabinet salaries, the state budget, and Saturday’s joint airstrikes on Syria.

The House of Representatives approved yesterday a bill that sets a cap on the monthly net salaries of cabinet ministers at EGP 42,000. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Omar Marwan told Kol Youm’s Amr Adib that the bill does not give ministers a raise, but just makes official the amount they receive at the end of each month. He explained that prior to the bill, ministers received the same amount but through two separate payments (base salary of EGP 22,000 and bonuses), stressing that the decision does not in any way add to the state’s financial burden (watch, runtime: 3:39).

Bread prices have not increased in the FY2018-19 budget, House Budget Committee chair Yasser Omar told Adib. He told Adib, however, that fuel and power subsidy cuts are not really a surprise (watch, runtime 2:02).

Meanwhile, US State Department Middle East spokesperson Nathan Tek defended the joint Saturday airstrikes launched by the US, UK, and France on Al Hayah Al Youm. He got into a heated argument with host Khaled Abu Bakr, who said the “tripartite attack” was carried out without UN approval and before investigations could discern whether or not the regime had in fact launched a chemical attack to warrant retaliatory action (watch, runtime: 24:28).

Egypt, Saudi, the UAE, Bahrain, and Jordan are now a “nucleus of power, capable of changing the face of the Arab World,” a very proud Amr Adib told his audience, as he aired footage of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and other regional leaders at the wrap-up of the Gulf Shield-1 joint military drill (watch, runtime: 4:00).

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.