Government policy towards Gaza and, closer to home, managing the economic crisis were the subject of this week's parliamentary spats, reports Gamal Essam El-Din The plight of Palestinians in Gaza and the government's attempts to contain the impact on Egypt of the global financial crisis stirred a heated debate in parliament this week. In a statement before the People's Assembly Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif emphasised on Monday that his government had done all it could to minimise the disastrous impact on Palestinians of Israel's assault against Gaza. "In violation of an international agreement Egypt decided to open the crossing at Rafah to allow humanitarian help to reach the Palestinians," said Nazif. Five thousand tonnes of medical supplies and more than 6,000 tonnes of food products passed through Rafah. In addition, more than 800 Palestinians entered Egypt via the crossing for medical treatment. Nazif indicated that the government's help to the Palestinians in Gaza was not only humanitarian but included organising a conference to discuss the reconstruction of the Strip. The prime minister attacked "all those who attempt to exploit the Israeli aggression to tarnish the image of Egypt, to cast doubt over the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority and allow non-Arab forces to get a foothold in the region". The government faced attacks from Islamist and leftist opposition MPs who claimed that it had not done enough to show solidarity with Gaza or extend help to the Palestinians. Saad El-Katatni, the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentary spokesman, insisted that the government had not exerted enough pressure on "the Zionist enemy". "The government refused to withdraw the Egyptian ambassador from Tel Aviv or to open the Rafah crossing to food shipments destined for Gaza while continuing to export natural gas to the Israelis," said El-Katatni. Leftist independent MP Mustafa Bakri accused the government of lacking the political will necessary to help the Palestinians and press the Israelis to halt their attacks. Deputies belonging to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) came to Nazif's aid, praising the government for refusing to bow to calls from Arab rejectionist states for a new war against Israel. "These states follow the agenda of non- Arab and non-Sunni forces which want the Arabs, and the Egyptians in particular, to shoulder the real costs of any confrontation with the world's superpowers," said NDP MP Khalifa Radwan. Mustafa El-Feki, chairman of the assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, said one of the major goals of the Israeli aggression was to drive a wedge between Egypt and other Arab states. "Unfortunately," argued El-Feki, "some Arab states belonging to the so-called rejectionist camp seized on the aggression to attack Egypt with the aim of marginalising its regional role". On the economy Nazif said 2008 had witnessed healthy growth but indicated that Egypt will be unlikely to escape the slowdown resulting from the global financial crisis. "Is the Egyptian economy strong enough to weather the global financial downturn?" he asked. "My answer is yes, the Egyptian economy is very strong and capable of weathering such a big crisis... Let us remember that Egypt did not face the revolution of the hungry as some predicted last year." Nazif pointed out that GDP grew from 4.5 per cent in 2004/2005 to 7.2 per cent in 2007/2008; the volume of exports increased by 36 per cent and foreign exchange reserves topped $35 billion. "These strong figures underline the continued success of the Egyptian economy in facing the threat of a global financial downturn," he argued. "Public debts plummeted from 87.1 per cent of GDP in June 2005 to 59.9 per cent of GDP in June 2008 [while] the budget deficit dropped from 9.6 per cent of GDP in 2004/2005 to 6.8 per cent in 2007/2008." Such progress, he continued, had served to buffer Egypt from the worst of the fallout from the financial crisis. Nazif conceded that the downturn posed a significant threat to major sources of income, including tourism, the Suez Canal and remittances from Egyptian workers abroad. But he dismissed suggestions that the threats would translate into a deep recession. "Everyone knows that these areas account only for 20 per cent of GDP while the remaining 80 per cent is generated internally," he said. Nazif expected that while the global downturn will hamper economic prospects in the short-term, Egypt's low costs and competitive workforce will continue to underpin steady growth through 2009. He also expressed hopes that the downturn will lessen inflationary pressures, predicting that the increase in the retail price index could fall to 10 per cent by summer. Nazif concluded by indicating that his government had wrapped up a package of economic policies aimed at limiting any shocks from the global economic turmoil. They include spurring economic growth in the form of spending LE15 billion on labour intensive projects and forging a social solidarity programme aimed at fighting unemployment. "The biggest threat of the global downturn is that it could exacerbate unemployment," he said. To counteract this possibility the government has charged the Social Development Fund to focus more on labour-intensive and small-scale income-generating projects for young people. There are plans to inject cash via infrastructural projects such as a new railway between the industrial 10th of Ramadan city and Cairo while LE48 billion had been earmarked for upgrading the vital sector of internal trade. The prime minister also revealed that Egypt has been coordinating with oil-rich Arab countries -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Libya -- to fund mega development projects worth an estimated $10 billion. "These projects will focus on building new housing communities and investing in technology and oil and tourist developments," he said.
