Established 1880
gazette@eltahrir.net.eg
gazette@eltahrir.net.eg
Thursday 27 april 2006
Amina Abdul Salam Gazette staff Modernising the industrial sector is one of the biggest goals in the Government's programme, the aim being to make Egyptian industrial products more competitive in local and global markets. At a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Minister of Home, Foreign Trade and Industry Rashid Mohamed Rashid discussed how to boost domestic production, with a view to helping the industrial sector's contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by between 5 and 10 per cent over the next five years, as well as attracting further investments and therefore creating more jobs. "Minister Rashid pointed out that industry's contribution to GDP is only 20 per cent and the target is 30 per cent, as in other countries which enjoy a similar economic growth rate to Egypt's," said Cabinet Spokesman Magdi Radi. The Minister noted that the manufacturing sector employs the largest number of workers of any sector in Egypt Ð 2.4 million workers or 13 per cent of the official workforce, in addition to informal labour. According to Minister Rashid, 69 per cent of total industrial exports are non-petroleum commodities, while 2 per cent of Egypt's production is exported, the rest being consumed locally. It seems that there is the potential to increase Egyptian exports to global markets. Rashid also stressed that there is a plan to attract local and global investments of LE175 billion to this sector in the next five years, to increase exports from LE18 billion to LE42 billion and to create 1.5 million new jobs. "The Southern Valley and Sinai governorates are top priorities, when it comes to the Industrial Development Authority's plans to attract new investors," he explained, adding that, in order to modernise this sector, we need set up new industries and restructure existing ones. The Minister stressed the importance for the local banks to contribute to investment projects, noting that the Ministries of Industry and Finance and the Central Bank of Egypt have launched a study into the possibility of establishing a number of investment funds to assist defaulting factories through providing them with technical and financial assistance. |
President Hosni Mubarak has decided that Egypt will incur the costs of establishing and equipping the administrative building of the International African Kwame Nkrumah University in Akra, Ghana. The gesture reflects Egypt's support for joint African efforts, according to a senior Egyptian official. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif broke the news at the opening session of the fourth round for Labour and Social Affairs Committee of the African Union in Cairo yesterday. |
