CAIRO: While the Central Auditing Agency's (CAA) annual report listed 21 achievements made by the government over the 2007-2008 year, it also pointed to major shortcomings. According to the report - which was presented to the People's Assembly (PA) earlier this week by chairman of the CAA Gawdat Al-Malt - the government's most notable achievement is the increase in the economic growth rate to a high of 7.2 percent. Other achievements include an 11.9 percent surge in foreign direct investments, increasing the value of the Egyptian pound for the fourth successive year, a rise in tax revenues as well as airport renovations. At the same time, the report highlighted 25 disappointments in the government's performance over the year. MP Mohamed Al-Beltagy told Daily News Egypt that the report included devastating results that should have led to a Cabinet resignation. "The report indicated that we are dealing with an incompetent government that is incapable of performing its duties properly, he said. Al-Beltagy said that the report refuted "the prime minister's long speeches about economic progress . and provided data that prove the exact opposite [of what he says], referring to data indicating that most Egyptians live under the poverty line. "It seems that our prime minister is living on a different planet, Al-Beltagy added. The report, according to Al-Beltagy, says that Egypt's international debts almost doubled, and that 20 percent of the national budget for 2008 was used to pay off debts. "Corruption exists in different local councils, he said, adding that the report says that the government "squandered around LE 11 billion of public money on development projects. Al-Beltagy explained that after the report was presented, things went back to normal at the PA, with no one demanding investigations into it "because we are all sick of filing investigation requests that no one responds to.
