An Egyptian parliamentarian submitted an urgent briefing request to the government, on Wednesday, to hold it accountable for the reasons for the decline in the global “Corruption Perceptions Index,” in which his country ranked 130th out of 180 countries, and the “waste of public money” that this represents in light of difficult geopolitical conditions.
Freddy Al-Bayadi, a member of the House of Representatives for the opposition Egyptian Democratic Party, said in the briefing request that “corruption is increasing in Egypt, and the government is required to reveal an account.”
The “Corruption Perceptions” index was issued by Transparency International last February, and Al-Bayadhi attributed the late submission of the briefing request after the time of the report’s issuance to the Council’s approval for 3 months, denying linking it to any recent incidents related to corruption, according to his statement to Asharq Al-Awsat.
However, observers linked this request to the “Egypt Forum 2026,” scheduled to be held on the nineteenth of this month.
The Egyptian arena is awaiting the holding of the interactive “Egypt Forum” to showcase government achievements. The forum allows citizens to submit questions and suggestions through its own website launched by the government at the beginning of this month, as well as register requests to participate in it.
Egypt ranked 130th in the “Corruption Perceptions” index for the year 2025, which is the same position it fell to in 2024, from the 108th position it achieved in 2023, and the 94th position in 2014.
Public money
The member of the House of Representatives points out in the briefing request, according to a statement on his Facebook page, that “corruption may be in a project that is carried out at a cost greater than its value, or in a tender that is decided by favoritism, or in an official who exploits his position, or in spending public money without oversight.”
He added that Egypt launched the “National Anti-Corruption Strategy” in 2014, and that after more than 10 years of “anti-corruption strategies, conferences, and statements, we have retreated backwards instead of making progress on the issue.”
In a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, political expert and former member of Parliament Imad Gad believes that the indicator reflects the lack of progress in combating corruption, even though Egypt has a constitutional and legal system and a comprehensive and comprehensive strategy to confront the waste of public money, but the crisis remains in implementation, not legislation.
The independent Administrative Control Authority works to combat corruption in Egypt, and announces from time to time the seizure of various cases, including bribery, abuse of influence, embezzlement, and others, in various sectors of the state.
On July 14, the authority announced the arrest of “a criminal formation specializing in electronic fraud and defrauding citizens.” On the 9th of the same month, it announced the arrest of officials of 13 companies who falsified customs clearances to release 122 customs consignments in violation of the law and without collecting the due fees.
The parliamentarian warned of the effects of corruption on investment, saying in the briefing request that “the investor will not be reassured in an environment in which there is favoritism or unfair competition, and the result is fewer job opportunities and a weaker economy.”
Oversight and accountability
A survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for the year 2024 previously confirmed the same thing, as it explained that “corruption stands as an obstacle to investment, competition, and the efficiency of the Egyptian economy.” The report pointed out that “the problem does not lie primarily in the absence of laws and strategies, but rather in the weak implementation of existing tools, the lack of reporting, accountability and oversight mechanisms, and the difficulty of accessing information.”
Jad told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Bureaucracy and the small number of oversight employees make it difficult to contain corruption...and the number of cases announced is small compared to the extent of corruption.”
He added: “The issue of confronting corruption also requires raising wages in proportion to prices, so that the employee can live without resorting to bribes and other forms.”
There are no periodic statistics on the number of corruption cases that are seized, the most prominent sectors in terms of the spread of corruption in them, the results of these cases, or the amount of money recovered from fighting corruption. However, the Administrative Control Authority indicated in a report for the first 7 months of 2019 that it had seized 412 criminal cases for bribery, embezzlement, facilitating the seizure of public funds, forgery, and illicit gain. It also announced that legal measures would be taken against 1,433 public employees due to job deviations.
Regarding the paths that the briefing request submitted by MP Al-Bayyadi is supposed to go through, he said: “The government is supposed to send a committee to discuss it with the relevant committees in the House of Representatives, and then the relevant ministers will respond to what is stated in it along with submitting the statement of account,” but he added that this is “not guaranteed... and the government may not respond” to the request.
Fears are increasing in Libya about the repercussions of the decline in the value of the dinar against the dollar on citizens’ livelihoods and the state’s public finances, with the continued rise of the American currency in the “parallel market,” and in conjunction with renewed threats by the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, Naji Muhammad Issa, to resign in light of disagreements regarding public spending and the depletion of the state’s resources in hard currency, according to a source at the “bank.”
The dollar continued to rise in the parallel market, on Wednesday, recording 9.98 dinars, compared to 9.82 dinars at the beginning of the week, according to traded prices. The difference between the official and parallel prices widened to 3.56 dinars, after the dollar recorded in official transactions about 6.42 dinars, an indication of the widening gap between the two markets.
The repercussions of the high prices extended to the details of citizens’ daily lives, as Libyan pages on social media recently circulated a video clip of a citizen from Tripoli complaining about the high cost of a simple breakfast meal to about 32 dinars, and confirming that a plate of eggs amounted to 25 dinars, cheese 4 dinars, and bread 4 dinars, expressing his dissatisfaction with the high prices and the decline in purchasing power, in light of the dollar crisis and the rise of its exchange rate against the Libyan dinar, and asked about The fate of the local currency in light of these developments.
This complaint reflects part of the living pressures faced by Libyans, with the decline in the purchasing power of the local currency and the rise in the cost of goods. The exchange rate is linked to local market conditions, especially in a country that relies on imports to meet a large part of its needs, which makes any increase in the cost of foreign currency a factor putting pressure on prices.
Ali Al-Sharif, professor of economics at the University of Benghazi, said that the dollar reaching ten dinars means that a month’s salary worth two thousand dinars does not exceed the equivalent of $200, according to the parallel exchange rate.
He added in a post on his official Facebook page on Tuesday evening, explaining that this value is less than the level of $300, which he based his estimate of the poverty line on, which reflects the magnitude of the decline in the purchasing power of the dinar and the standard of living of citizens.
In parallel with the pressure on the exchange rate, there is renewed talk about the future of monetary policy management, after a source in the Central Bank reported to Libyan media, on Tuesday evening, that the governor is still adhering to the request to apologize for continuing in his position, due to what he described as the absence of clear support from state institutions for the bank’s efforts, and the failure to approve reforms that limit public spending, and the depletion of the country’s foreign exchange resources.
While the Central Bank Governor participated in the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, held in the Thai capital, Bangkok, the source explained that the continued spending on various purposes without studies commensurate with the economic reality, in addition to the smuggling of goods and fuel, disrupted the bank’s efforts to defend the exchange rate, and led to the emergence of influential factors that have become, in his estimation, outside the scope of its direct jurisdiction. It was not possible to independently verify the details of these positions.
The same source indicated that the bank was exposed to pressure from parties in the east and west of the country to obtain funds, in exchange for not responding to the demands of the governor and the board of directors, aimed at reducing public spending, warning of the repercussions of this on the financial situation and the dinar exchange rate.
Here, the economic researcher, Abdul Hamid Al-Fadil, concluded that the renewed threat of resignation represents an indication of the seriousness of the economic situation, and he suggested that the continuation of the current imbalances will likely lead to a further decline in the value of the dinar, and perhaps at a faster pace, if measures are not taken to address the causes of pressure on the currency.
Al-Fadil saw in a post on Facebook, on Tuesday evening, that the Central Bank’s consultations with the International Monetary Fund apparently revealed worrying data regarding the expansion of public spending by the two governments of national unity, headed by Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba, and the government appointed by the House of Representatives, headed by Osama Hammad, in addition to spending related to the reconstruction file.
Al-Fadil attributed the complexity of the scene to the absence of a near horizon for unifying public spending, coinciding with the rise in the fuel bill and the export of oil outside official channels, in addition to the non-compliance of some commercial banks with the instructions of the Central Bank, and what he described as the absence of the independence of the monetary institution. He considered that these factors limit the bank's ability to curb the depletion of reserves, under pressure to obtain more funds, beyond the absorptive capacity of the economy.
Meanwhile, the Governor of the Central Bank of Libya, Naji Muhammad Issa, participated, on Wednesday, in the meeting of the African Group’s governors with the Director General of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, in the presence of central bank governors, African finance ministers and officials from the Fund.
Egypt stressed the strength of its relations with Sudan and the continued coordination on strategic files after two successive incidents, one involving Sudanese prospectors on the border, and the other involving Egyptian drivers in Khartoum.
The official spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Nader Zaki, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday that “Egyptian-Sudanese relations are characterized by a deep and extended historical and strategic specificity,” stressing that “the ties are close between the two countries and the two brotherly peoples.”
He stressed that the volume of bilateral cooperation and interaction between Egypt and Sudan is “large and diverse and covers all political, security, economic and commercial fields,” explaining that “the security of the two countries is indivisible, and Egypt’s security begins with Sudan and vice versa.”
Regarding the Khartoum incident, Zaki explained that “the Sudanese authorities are showing close cooperation and coordination regarding the incident.”
He also stressed the continuation of joint and permanent coordination between the two countries in all strategic files, most notably water security and the security of the Red Sea, which Egypt considers the exclusive responsibility of the riparian countries, stressing that “the attempts of some parties to exaggerate the events will not affect the depth of bilateral relations.”
He added: “Open channels of communication and continuous coordination between Cairo and Khartoum are sufficient to overcome challenges and preserve the common interests of the two countries.”
Last Monday, a phone call took place between Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty and his Sudanese counterpart, Mohieddin Salem, during which they stressed “the depth of Egyptian-Sudanese relations, and mutual respect for the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of each country and its borders.” They agreed on “the importance of continuing to work on further developing relations, and continuing coordination and consultation between the two countries.”
The call came after accusations on social media platforms that Cairo was “targeting Sudanese mining workers,” or so-called “dahabas.”
The Transitional Sovereignty Council in Sudan announced on the same day that it had “formed a fact-finding committee regarding the incident that occurred against a number of Sudanese miners in the border region between Egypt and Sudan,” the day after the Sudan Doctors Network, a non-governmental body, reported that “13 were killed and 28 miners were injured in the border region with Egypt, as a result of an air strike.”
On the same day, Egyptian army spokesman Colonel Ahmed Etman called in a statement “not to be led by misleading rumors or foreign agendas that seek to target the fraternal relations between Egypt and Sudan.”
He talked about “launching the third phase of the massive campaign to confront illegal exploration for gold ore in the Eastern Desert, after throwing warning leaflets at criminal elements to impose full sovereignty within the borders of the Egyptian state and protect its national capabilities and wealth.”
The second phase was launched last August, and witnessed “intensification of combing and raiding operations in areas proven to have carried out such acts,” about two months after the launch of the first phase against groups illegally prospecting for gold ore last June.
The army reported that during June, “58 incidents of random prospecting for gold ore were seized, 20 metal detectors, 118 electrical machines, and 86 tons of stones mixed with gold ore were seized.”
Only about two hours had passed since the border incident crisis, until the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced in a statement that “an unfortunate accident had occurred in the city of Khartoum after an armed man opened fire on a number of Egyptian truck drivers. Two drivers were killed, while a third was injured and in critical condition,” noting that after communications from the Egyptian ambassador to Sudan, Yasser Sorour, the Sudanese authorities reported that they were able to arrest the perpetrator of the crime, in addition to the governor of Khartoum offering condolences to him.
The deputy of the Egyptian Council for African Affairs, Ambassador Salah Halima, says, “Relations between Egypt and Sudan have been going on since ancient times, and these incidents will not affect them and will be contained and addressed,” calling for “not to be led by what is happening on social media networks in terms of attempts to create discord between the two peoples.”
Regarding ways to overcome this, Halima told Asharq Al-Awsat that “a joint meeting could be held between the two sides, in which the results of the investigations will be discussed and presented to the senior officials of the two countries.” It is unlikely that these events will affect coordination between the two countries on any joint files, whether in the Nile River, the Red Sea, or files supporting Sudan. He expected that “relations will develop to broader horizons.”
Since the beginning of the war in Sudan in mid-April 2023, Egypt has supported the legitimate institutions in Sudan, led by the Sudanese army, and has called for the need to stop the war and begin a comprehensive political process that brings together the various components of society.
