Egyptian Minister warns against increasing economic burden

Ashraf al-Araby feels Egypt is on the right road to economic recovery Egypt's Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf al-Araby has warned against increasing the burden of the economic crisis in Egypt. Speaking at a seminar organised by Sadat Academy for Administrative Sciences in Cairo, Araby said: "The government has outlined plans and the programmes extends to June 30, 2013. The aim is to address the problems of budget deficit and declining cash reserves."
Araby said that the plan also targets the economic growth rate of 3.5 percent in 2013, to get closer to the growth rate of 10 percent after 10 years, in order to double the national income.
He revealed that the new budget for the fiscal year 2013/2014 will be finished by the end of March and will be implemented from next July. He said that the new plan will be available to all citizens, so that they can follow up the projects carried out by the government and help citizens to hold government accountable if it did no fulfil its promises.
He confirmed that the government has invested $56 billion in the 2012/13 fiscal year, with a 50 percent increase in education, scientific research and health investments.
Speaking about Egypt's agreement with the International Monetary Fund, Araby said that "the government has put the requirements upon itself" and the goal is not to get the loan, but "to amend the economic system that suffers from defects."
He said that the government did not speak to the IMF about floating the Egyptian pound, but the national programme "aims to tackle deficit, which stood at about 10.8 percent of gross national income." He added that to balance the payments deficit and energy-saving, "new taxes will be imposed from March."