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).