HCAF approves 2011-2012 budget THE RULING military council approved on Monday the government's revised draft budget for fiscal year 2011-2012. Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Higher Council of the Armed Forces (HCAF), endorsed the budget after the government reduced the deficit it proposed in its draft plan from 11 per cent of GDP to 8.6 per cent. The final budget's deficit of LE141 billion is due to the difference between state expenditures of LE490.6 billion and revenues of LE349.6 billion. One major difference between the draft and final budgets is that the latter does not include a $3 billion loan facility it secured with the International Monetary Fund, nor the World Bank's $4.5 billion loan. Finance Minister Samir Radwan said that the government plans to fund the deficit through a combination of local market issuance and with aid from Arab states. "We plan to cover LE120 billion from the local market, and LE14 billion of the deficit we are looking for from Arab countries," Radwan told reporters during his visit to Abu Dhabi. New steel licences WITH the aim of boosting local production and tightening imports , the cabinet granted four companies licences for steel plants two of which are to be located in southern Egypt and the other two in the Delta region with total investments pf LE3billion. The four firms are Port Said National Company for Steel, IIC for Steel Plants Management, Al-Marakbi and Al-Wataniya. The companies had won the licences in December but failed to pay the required fees and accordingly were given an extension period. According to a statement by the ministry of of trade , the overall production capacity of the factories is 2 million tonnes of rebar and 1 million tonnes of billet . ISO awards TE Data TE DATA, Egypt's largest IP based data communications carrier, was awarded the International Quality Certificate ISO 9001/2008 in the field of design, development and provisioning of telecommunication services from the German T�VRheinland company -- a global provider of technical, safety and certification services, Nesma Nowar reports. "The government owns 80 per cent of our company," said Azza Turk, CEO of TE Data, addressing a press conference held last week. "Now we can say that our government could gain an international certificate." Ahmed Osama, managing director of TE Data, stated that the company has gained the ISO 9001/2008 in all its 14 branches. He said that his company's aim is to provide the services with international standards, adding that the size of the company's businesses has increased 70 times since the launch of the company in 2001 till date. Osama further stated that after the 25 January Revolution, Internet subscriptions have witnessed a boom. "There was a significant increase in Internet subscriptions in March and April," he said. Tamer Gadallah, managing director at TE Data, pointed out that gaining such certificate required huge investment in human capital and training, as well as the marketing process, in addition to investing in infrastructure to cover a large number of customers. The International Quality Certificate ISO 9001/2008 is one of the most prestigious certificates. It is awarded to companies that endorse applying international quality systems that achieve stability and balanced performance and are able to balance their resources and operations. The ISO 9001/2008 is given to TE Data for three years, and each year the company would be subjected to periodic assessment to make sure it continues on applying the international standards.
