Planning Minister looks back over five years of challenge, improvement
Egypt, Economics, 5/30/2002

Hardly will few weeks have passed when a new fiscal year will have started in Egypt on July 31, 2002. June 30 not only marks the end of a fiscal year 2001-2002, but also the beginning of the new 2002-2007 Five-Year Plan.

There is talk about the Egyptian economy and its achievements over the past five years, and about the achievements expected over the next half decade, especially in terms of the increased economic growth, falling inflation, increasing the influx of foreign investment, greater budget allocations to public services, and improved living standards.

The Minister of Planning, Othman Mohammed Othman said that during the previous 1997-2002 Plan, growth rose to 4.5 per cent, which means that incomes have risen by 2.3 per cent a year.

In a statement to the Shura Council, Othman said that the past five years had seen improvements in education, and in health and social services, thanks to LE230 billion investment by the government.

But there were also the challenges to efforts for development. One such challenge was the need to increase savings from 12 per cent of GNP to 17.2 per cent, particularly in the last year of the plan.

Other tough tasks included the reduction of the balance of payments deficit, and narrowing the gulf between exports and imports, Othman said.

"Over-population is still a hindrance to development," Othman said, adding that the two objectives of the new plan would be the improvement in living standards, a reduction of adult illiteracy from 30.6 per cent to 27.4 per cent, the construction of 950,000 housing units, and raising electricity generating capacity from 113 billion kilowatt/ hours to 152 billion kilowatt/hour by mid-2007, the statement said.

The plan aims to reduce poverty, provide better social security, and combat unemployment with the creation of 350,000 jobs per year.

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