The government's shortcomings outnumbered its achievements, according to the Central Auditing Organization (CAO) report presented yesterday by CAO chairman, Counselor Goudat el-Malt, in his statement to the People's Assembly. He said shortcomings were 25 and achievements 21, although he questioned the 21st achievement. Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali and Economic Development Minister Osman Mohamed Osman refused to respond to the details of the report. Among the main shortcomings, says the report, is the fact that the poor and the middle class do not feel the effects of the economic reforms. This is due, it affirms, to the rising prices of commodities and services, the postponed payment of some financial burdens to reduce the State deficit, and the burden imposed on the successive budgets. El-Malt said the internal debt was one of the highest worldwide, while inflation rose from 4.2% in 2006 to 11.7% in 2008. He also said phenomena such as smuggling commodities and dumping products of unknown origin in the markets have spread, while some have resorted to 'starve the market'. He criticized the performance of the government when it comes to providing general and social services. He said this performance was much inferior to the economic one, highlighting the bad conditions of hospitals and the lack of medicines. He said in hospitals, more than one patient slept on one single bed, while officials had failed to justify bread crises, the sinking of the Salam 98 ferry, Duweika rockslide and road accidents. He said this created a crisis of trust between the government and the people. El-Malt added that slackness in some municipalities had turned into corruption, especially in the housing and building sector, affirming that some foreign loans and grants were not used in an optimal way. With regarding to the achievements, el-Malt said the growth rate had gone up to 7.2%, foreign investments to $11.9 billion, and monetary reserve to $34.6 billion. He also said collected taxes and the value of the Egyptian pound continued to grow for the fourth year, while airports and sea navigation were developed, illiteracy went down and 15 million citizens got their own food supply card. He said the government's efforts could not be belittled by these shortcomings. However, he added: "If I were the government, I would admit these shortcomings". He affirmed the ministers praised the CAO reports in their speeches but said the opposite when speaking into the microphones. For his part, People's Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour praised the CAO report, saying: "Your report helps the Assembly play its constitutional role." The session also witnessed a confrontation between Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali and independent MP Mustafa Bakri when the latter asked the minister about the LE 33 billion that had been taken by the external debt funds at the Central Bank of Egypt. "Either you're a liar or the Central Bank is" the MP said. Ghali stood up and went next to Dr. Zakaria Azmi while the MP went on to say: "When you took up as minister, the public debt was at LE 292.7 billion. Now it's at LE 478 billion." Dr. Sorour intervened saying to Bakri: "The minister's left the session because he had an appointment to see the ophthalmologist. By the way, could you please not use the word 'liar'?"
