CAIRO - Despite calls for a no confidence vote against it, the cabinet discussed measures to boost economic growth and restore security and order in the Egyptian street. The national salvation government, led by Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri, reviewed detailed reports about supplies of fuel, butane gas cylinders and other basic commodities. The most populous Arab country has been hit by a fuel shortage crisis in recent months, with supply failing to meet local demand. “The government has imported 5 million litres of petrol to meet growing demand on the local market,” Minister of Oil Abdalla Ghorab said. A butane shipment of 6,400 tonnes, coming from Saudi Arabia, arrived in Suez in a bid to boost supplies across the nation, where the price of a cylinder of butane has leapt from LE4 to more than LE50 (over $8). Around 40 per cent of Egypt's 80 million population lives on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank. The government has unveiled plans to get production rates back to normal after a year of slowing growth, since the eruption of the January 25 Revolution. On Sunday, the premier will open the 45th Cairo International Fair, in a bid to send a clear message to the world that Egypt is turning over a new leaf and heading for a better outlook. Around 1,000 companies from 16 countries will take part in the event, Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Mahmoud Issa said. In the meantime, el-Ganzouri's cabinet will be facing a no confidence vote next week, an MPA said. "The Freedom and Justice Party [FJP] rejects el-Ganzouri's cabinet because it is incompetent. The party has no confidence in this government and will ignore its statements," said MPA Ahmed Abdel-Rahman of the FJP, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. He added that his party rejects the idea of any small reshuffle, stressing that the People's Assembly (lower house of parliament) as a whole would reject such a reshuffle. The Muslim Brotherhood is the biggest bloc in parliament which this week voted to begin steps to withdraw confidence from the army-appointed cabinet, two months ahead of the country's first free presidential elections on May 23 and 24.
