MP calls government for reviewing decision

Egyptian parliamentarian Hassan Al Sayed said that the Egyptian government will take serious steps to increase the prices of commodities during the coming month of July, saying that the parliament will take serious measures to suspend this step as soon as possible. He stressed that the parliament cannot force the government to abandon its decision.

The Parliament's inability to confront the government comes after the House of Representatives, headed by Dr. Ali Abdel-Aal, approved the draft state budget for the new fiscal year, which included a sharp reduction in fuel subsidies, which will inevitably affect the increase in prices.

The Egyptian parliamentarian warned of a wave of rising prices in the Egyptian market in early July, saying that the country will witness a notable rise in prices significantly. He added it will be the result of the increase in the prices of petroleum products, which raise prices for everything and have a direct impact on all citizens, and will be affected by rich and poor.

He added that, re-running suspended factories and small workshops will be a great help in developing the industrial sector, establishing a high value and increasing exports’ rate. He said that the division is working to increase the local material in industries especially in cars, to reduce the dollar consumption, and there has been a great cooperation to achieve this idea.

He said that, the decision to increase fees on scrap paper and aluminum scrap is late but good in order to preserve the raw materials and use them in local industries instead of importing them, adding that this increase in fees came on requests from industrial chambers, but it was recently approved. He added that, the decision didn’t indicate how long this increase will last or what is its impact, stressing that, the smuggling operations of these scraps need to be stopped.

He stressed that the Industry Committee has held several meetings to prioritize the work in the next phase, stressing that they work to resolve the problems of suspended factories during the coming period and to ease the repercussions of the decision to liberate the exchange rate of the Egyptian currency on the Egyptian workers.

He praised the initiative adopted by President Sisi to allocate 200 billion EGP to finance small and medium projects, saying that the banks have not provided more than one billion EGP. He stressed the need for providing the money to ease the challenges facing the young Egyptians during the coming period.

He added that the country has not benefited from the agricultural crops that are exported as raw material, stressing that if the government turned to manufacturer them, it would achieve increasing gains. He revealed they plan to establish industrial communities near the agricultural areas to manufacture the agricultural crops.