Parliament’s planning and budget committee asked the government this week to explain the recent increase in the number of registered government employees, especially in light of the fact that all government appointments were halted in 1999.
The committee found that the total number of government employees had risen from 2.5 million in 1982/83 to 5.4 million in 2010. Of these, 300,000 were found to have been appointed under the current cabinet.
The committee also requested clarification from the government as to whether the recent merger of income tax and sales tax had served to increase overall government tax revenue. Members of the committee asked whether the two taxes should be made independent of one another as had been the case before.
Committee members also questioned whether the LE3.4 billion allocated yearly for the maintenance of state assets would be sufficient.
The committee further noted that yearly funds allocated for the support of exports had fallen on the year from LE3.7 billion to LE 3.3 billion, while funds allocated for the Supreme Press Council had increased from LE178 million in 2010 to LE209 million this year.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
