Hossam el-Hamalawy
From Reuters:
The proportion of Egyptians living in absolute poverty has risen despite relatively rapid economic growth this decade, the head of United Nations operations in Egypt said on Wednesday.
Between 2000 and 2005 the absolute poverty rate rose to 19.6 percent from 16.7 percent of the population, U.N. resident coordinator James Rawley told a news conference.
“One in every five Egyptians cannot meet their basic living needs,” he added, quoting a survey completed in June.
The Washington Post profiles Gamal Mubarak.
From Gulf News…
A week-long strike at Egypt’s biggest textile company may be over, but it is likely that similar events will unfold elsewhere, experts warn.
“These strikes will happen again unless workers’ conditions are drastically improved,” says Fouad Hashem, an economics professor.
“A comprehensive reform programme should be worked out to ensure that workers receive reasonable wages to cope with high inflation rates,” he told Gulf News.
Annual inflation rates in Egypt reached 8.5 per cent last August compared with 8.9 per cent in August 2006, according to a recent cabinet report.
An estimated 27,000 workers at the Misr Textile Company in Al Mahalla Al Kubra, some 130km north of Cairo, went back to work on Monday after going on strike for a week in protest of the low wages and increments.