The Egyptian government said on Monday that it is hopeful 2010 will return Egypt’s economy to pre-financial crisis levels.Egypt's Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid reported that he expects Egypt to see at least 5 percent growth for the current fiscal year and could jump over 6 percent.
Although the confidence is building in Egypt, the minister warned that businesses and experts should remain cautious, saying the road ahead toward complete economic recovery will be “difficult.”
Speaking on the future, Rachid said that for the coming financial year that begins July 1, he expects nothing less than 6 percent growth, which the ministry said would put Egypt back on foreign investors maps and create a country where investments would flourish.
“We want 5 percent growth this year. Starting the next year, we can have momentum enough to get to 6 percent plus,” Rachid told a news briefing.
The minister added that much of the focus will be on internal trade and buttressing the Egyptian economy from within, at least in the immediate future. “Local market activity is quite positive, especially in the area of construction…[that has an] impact on consumption, employment and manufacturing,” he said.
Agriculture is at the top of the industrial agenda, including food processing, farming and canning, the minister said. ”
“The project is ready,” Rachid told the audience, “but delayed by the allocation of land.” Plans to allocate 500 to 5,000 feddan plots of irrigated land to foreign companies to lease for agricultural manufacture await specifics on the exact locations.
“Our intention is not to create a process that will increase prices of land, [that would cause Egypt to] lose competitiveness,” Rachid said.
The minister also addressed his comments on carbon dioxide taxes being proposed by the Egyptian government, which were raised at the recent WTO conference in Davos.
“I did not criticize the tax. My biggest worry is that the border agreements with customs and taxes… could be tools for protectionism,” he said, adding that Egypt has put CO2 reduction as a priority in an effort to reduce emissions by 25 percent in 10 years.
