Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin said that he will continue to monitor investments in Egypt while in his new position as a director of the World Bank, focusing particularly on infrastructure. This area is still underfunded in Egypt, according to Mohieldin, accounting for only a small percentage of Egypt’s total investment sum of approximately 49 million dollars since 2003-2004.
Mohieldin was speaking during a session he arranged with journalists on Wednesday evening, during which he confirmed that he has been appointed one of three directors in the World Bank. He will be working under the three vice presidents, each of whom is responsible for one region as defined by the organization’s subdivisions. Mohieldin will lead the supervision of this team, as well as assuming responsibility for the Arab Region.
He added that his role will include supporting small and large projects, infrastructure, and human development in the areas of education, poverty and health.
He said that the President’s blessing was the basis of his nomination to this position, in addition to the national and regional standards which all World Bank officials must meet. Mohieldin indicated that before leaving his Ministry position on 4 October he still hopes to open the Ministry of Investment satellite channel which will provide education about economic matters, and will be funded by holding companies.
He said that the project has been completed despite the many hurdles it faced, chief amongst them funding, but added “I don’t think that funding should be the primary impediment, in light of proliferation of satellite channels at the moment.” He explained that the channel will be connected with businessmen and leaders of small and medium enterprises as well as micro-enterprise.
“The channel will follow the first four hours of the stock market as a live broadcast with simplified economic analysis for the general public, along with a commentary discussing important economic events.” He said that most Egyptians are only familiar with two types of savings: land and gold, despite the presence of many new alternatives like stocks and bonds."
The Minister also announced that during the next parliamentary year he hopes to see the approval of nine new bills, including a bill on the state assets managements system, financial oversight reform, and amendment of lease and real estate funding rules.
