Cairo: The volume of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) investments in Egypt has reached $50 billion while European investments reached $45 billion, according to Dr. Ashraf Al Arabi, Egyptian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation.
He said on Thursday in an interview that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan to Egypt is not on the government’s current agenda. He further explained that the backing of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait has resulted in the Egyptian government’s non-interest in receiving a loan from the IMF.
According to Al Arabi, Egypt needs to attract annual foreign investments of $50 billion to step up the Egyptian economy and 850,000 annual job opportunities to absorb the labour market, which is the biggest challenge facing the government.
Minimum wage ceiling
The Egyptian minister added that starting from January the lowest wages received by any labourer in the government will be 1200 Egyptian Pounds. He also said that negotiations are ongoing with the private sector to establish a minimum wage ceiling for workers in these companies.
He further pointed out that direct foreign investment in Egypt does not exceed $2 billion, adding that the unemployment rate in the country has reached the rate of 13.5 per cent and 30 per cent for the youth category. Al Arabi added that the budget deficit as of July 30, 2013 ,reached 240 billion Egyptian Pounds.
