Economic Development Minister Othman Mohamed Othman at a press conference on Thursday said the Egyptian economy had improved since the onset of the global financial crisis two years ago.
“The budget deficit is under control, the balance of payments is solid and unemployment has decreased,” he said.
However, Othman warned against talk among various political circles about corruption and vote rigging. “Such talk could prompt national and foreign investors to delay their projects until after elections,” he said.
Othman stressed that the national economic growth rate had reached 5.9 percent in the last quarter of the 2009/10 fiscal year, which was better than the quarter that preceded the global financial crisis.
Yet the minister admitted that 8.2 percent of Egyptians currently live under the poverty line, blaming the media for contributing to inflation by exaggerating expectations of price hikes.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
