Most local newspapers Monday lead with the statements made by Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri during a press conference held on Sunday.
Front-page headlines by state-owned Al-Ahram, as well as privately owned Al-Dostour and Al-Wafd, quote Ganzouri’s discussion of the deteriorating economic conditions in Egypt.
"The gravity of the economic situation is unimaginable," Ganzouri said, according to Al-Ahram.
The new prime minister said security and the revival of production are the cabinet's top priorities. He added that the new cabinet will focus on controlling the budget deficit — now at LE134 billion — through austerity measures on spending, Al-Ahram reports.
Although Al-Ahram reports that Ganzouri has ruled out the levying of additional taxes, privately owned Al-Shorouk runs a front-page story with the headline "5 percent extra tax on high-income earners."
Al-Shorouk says the government plans to apply the taxation plan outlined in the 2011/2012 national budget. The plan would tax people with incomes of more than LE10 million at 25 percent rather than 20 percent, based on earnings since 1 July 2011, the beginning of the current fiscal year.
Meanwhile, in a continuation of the recent battle over the mandate of the new advisory council appointed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the 30-member council released a statement Sunday during its first meeting. It rejected statements made by SCAF member Mokhtar al-Mulla concerning the council's interference in the job of parliament, reports privately owned Al-Tahrir.
Last week, Mulla told foreign journalists that the parliament will not be tasked with writing the constitution on its own and that the advisory council will participate in choosing the constituent assembly. The statement said that Mulla’s announcements “override the SCAF’s official stance on the matter and violate the constitutional framework of the transitional period,” according to Al-Tahrir.
On the other hand, Al-Ahram adopts more vague language, writing that the advisory council discussed the procedures and regulations for forming the constituent assembly that will be responsible for drafting Egypt’s post-revolution constitution.
Despite recent media reports about conflicts between the Muslim Brotherhood and the SCAF over the same matter, Al-Tahrir quotes an anonymous source close to the SCAF as saying that there has been ongoing communication between both sides toward reaching an understanding.
Protesters holding a sit-in by the cabinet building denied the Interior Ministry's allegations that negotiations are taking place to end the sit-in, according to Al-Tahrir. Protesters confirmed that they won’t engage in any negotiations with the Interior Ministry before police officers implicated in killing 45 Egyptians during recent clashes in Tahrir Square are tried.
On a different note, Al-Akhbar runs a detailed, exclusive report about the assets of former President Hosni Mubarak and his family, estimating the wealth of his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, at about LE2.5 billion in Egypt and Switzerland. According to the report, Mubarak and his sons own 34 villas and properties in Egypt and are partners in 17 large companies.
In ongoing coverage of the parliamentary elections, Al-Ahram reports that the Salafi Nour Party is seeking to work with the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) to confront liberal forces, while the FJP prefers to stick to its own successful strategy.
Nour Party spokesperson Yosry Hammad said that his party wishes to coordinate with the FJP to endorse one parliamentary candidate in each constituency, against the liberal candidate, to unite the Islamist vote. On the other hand, Wahid Abdel Megid, spokesperson for the FJP’s Democratic Alliance, said that the coalition’s strategy will not change, reports Al-Ahram.
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Youm7: Daily, privately owned
Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned
Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party
