Eye on the economy
IN A SPEECH marking May Day yesterday, President Hosni Mubarak addressed a number of pressing domestic, regional and international issues. Focussing on Egypt's economic situation, he said the private sector has been given a free hand to play a vital role in developing and reforming the economy. "The aim of economic reform was to raise the standard of living for all citizens, while protecting labour rights," Mubarak said. He described the new labour law that was ratified by the People's Assembly recently as "the dream of all workers in Egypt" to guarantee their rights and regulate the workplace. He said blue collar workers "shoulder the responsibility of upgrading and modernising Egyptian production, and are [Egypt's] most valuable human resources".
While stating that Egypt has "accomplished the most difficult stages of economic reform to establish a strong national economy", Mubarak cautioned that many challenges lie ahead on the road to prosperity. These include rising unemployment, which could be checked through increasing the number of small-scale projects and attracting more investment; an illiteracy rate of 29.8 per cent that the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) is seeking to redress with an ambitious plan to eradicate illiteracy over the next four years; lagging exports, which Egypt is trying to boost through active membership in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Community of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the EU- Mediterranean Partnership and working towards an Arab common market; deficient national economic databases and infrastructure that needs to be upgraded and extended; dependency on foreign currency and overspending on imported goods; and most importantly the alarming rate of population growth which has brought the population up to the 70-million mark.
Giving a preview of the budget that will be presented to parliament in May, Mubarak said that government revenue from taxes, tariffs, the Suez Canal and oil reached LE116.5 billion, "while we need it to be LE158 billion". Interest on domestic and foreign loans will cost LE45 billion, education LE23 billion, health LE8 billion, and subsidies -- direct and indirect -- LE24 billion.
Finally, Mubarak emphasised that youth "must participate effectively" in the country's efforts to carry out economic and political reform programmes. He also promised that the banking sector will be overhauled and systems for tax and tariff revenues will be improved.
