New exchange rate won't affect prices but increases production

Egyptian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros Ghali said the new exchange rate will not affect the commodity prices, but it will help increasing the local production and cutting the volume of imports.

"The volume of Egyptian agricultural exports will increase significantly within the next few years thanks to the export promotion policies, and the new foreign exchange system introduced by the Government," Ghali announced yesterday.

Addressing a press conference in Cairo, Dr. Youssef Ghali said that the new dollar-pound exchange system will not result in inflation or price rises. He added that inflation fell from 3.3 percent in March 2000 to 2.3 percent in March 2001.

"This year, Egypt will export some 715,000 tons of rice and 140,000 quintals of cotton to world countries," Dr.Ghali told the conference. He also expected an increase in Egyptian oil exports within the coming five years.

The top economy official will represent Egypt at a ministerial meeting of a number of industrial and developing nations to be held this week in Mexico City.

The ministers will discuss modifying items on the agenda of a forthcoming WTO conference scheduled for November in the Qatari capital of Doha.