Steady growth MINISTER of Finance Youssef Boutros Ghali announced Sunday that total tax revenues for the fiscal year 2009/10 rose by six per cent compared to the previous year. Against all the economic odds of last year, revenues from income tax and sales tax collectively increased by LE8.1 billion during the year to register a total of around LE148 billion. According to Ghali, income tax increased by 28 per cent to LE92.351 billion in 2009/10 compared to LE89.450 billion in 2008/09 while sales tax registered an increase of 11 per cent (LE5 billion) to LE55.726 billion. "The increase in the tax revenues indicates the significance of the financial policy reform package that has been actively adopted by the government," said Ghali during a press conference held Sunday. The minister assured that economic growth would continue at reasonable rates thanks to the contribution of various economic sectors, including tourism, services, along with traditional revenue earners, namely the Suez Canal and the export of oil products. "The government managed to keep the budget deficit below 8.3 per cent during the past three years while being able to maintain positive growth rates, a balance which most European economies failed to realise." According to Ghali, tax revenues from all tax-paying activities surged in different degrees during 2009/10 compared to the previous year. Taxes on salaries increased by 19 per cent, taxes on commercial and industrial activities by two per cent, stamp tax by 14 per cent, taxes on bonds by a phenomenal 395 per cent, and taxes on real estate by 35 per cent. In the meantime, it has been indicated that tax revenues from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) fell by two per cent to LE3.306 billion during the year. Similarly, tax revenues on non-commercial professions dropped by 17 per cent to LE324 million. Tax revenues from the Suez Canal also fell by nine per cent and on oil by four per cent compared to the year previous. Fruitful collaboration THE EGYPTIAN General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) will soon be developing the Zubeir oilfield in southern Iraq. An agreement was signed Wednesday between Sameh Fahmi, minister of petroleum and mineral resources and Paolo Scaroni, CEO of the Italian Eni to increase the productivity of Zubeir oilfield by 10 per cent in an initial phase. This is the first time Egypt is entrusted with the task of drilling and developing an oilfield outside its territory. Zubeir is considered the largest oilfield in Iraq with proven reserves estimated at four billion barrels. The agreement aims at increasing production at the field to one million barrels per day (bpd) from the present 200,000 bpd, based on Egyptian experience and Italian state-of-the-art technology. A memorandum for cooperation was signed earlier by Fahmi and his Iraqi counterpart to utilise the experience of Egyptian petroleum companies in developing oilfields in Iraq. Post-crisis GAFI MINISTER of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin identified three primary activities to be handled by the General Authority for Investment (GAFI) in what he called the "post-economic crisis era": providing investment services, local and global promotion for investing in Egypt, and managing free investment zones. "Infrastructure projects had the fastest growth rate in Egypt for the past five years," Mohieldin said during an annual meeting held on Sunday to honour GAFI staff and mark its achievements during the year. Mohieldin noted that the infrastructure sector was a major contributor to Egypt's economic growth. The minister stated that 7,268 companies were established during fiscal year 2009/10 against 6,291 in the previous fiscal year, an increase of around 16 per cent. Encouraging development EGYPT is to receive German aid in the fields of renewable energy, water supply and sanitation, and education, Germany's minister for economic cooperation and development said. Minister Dirk Niebel, during a meeting organised last week in Cairo by the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce (GACIC), said these three areas are the main focus of bilateral cooperation between the two countries as they are "vital and crucial to Egypt's long term anti-poverty scheme and economic growth". Niebel also underlined the importance of cooperating with the private sector and its beneficial effects on Middle East and North Africa countries. The meeting was attended by Michael Bock, German ambassador to Egypt, Naguib Sawiris, president of GACIC and Orascom Telecom's CEO, as well as Rainer Herret, GACIC CEO. According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, bilateral trade between Egypt and Germany dropped slightly in 2009 because of the global financial crisis, with Egyptian exports to Germany reaching 832 million Euros down from 1,169 million Euros in 2008. Egyptian imports from Germany in 2009 totalled 2,662 million Euros against 2,725 million Euros in 2008.
