El-Baradei plan unveiled PRESIDENTIAL candidate Mohamed El-Baradei has presented his 10-pillar economic strategy, to lift Egypt out of its difficulties. The plan suggests the immediate implementation of minimum and maximum wage levels in all government entities, to avoid further strikes and stimulate purchasing power in the local market. It also provides for a national programme for investing in public housing and utilities, in a bid to boost the labour-intensive construction sector and improve the infrastructure of underprivileged areas. The plan also suggests the establishment of a fund, in collaboration with banks, to fund Egyptian industries. This fund is supposed to help hundreds of medium-sized factories which are inactive or about to stop operating because of money defaults. In an attempt to boost foreign and domestic investment in the short term, the plan proposed introducing temporary tax exemptions and incentives, for a maximum of two years, for new investments in labour-intensive projects which should start operations within a few months. In addition the plan suggests introducing incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises, while eliminating bureaucratic and administrative hurdles to encourage foreign and Egyptian investors to invest in the short term. As for tourism, the plan recommends focussing on new and unfamiliar markets such as China. Moreover, it recommends more than one licence for low-price aviation from Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh airports, which would in turn facilitate tourists' arrival, open new tourist markets and put an end to the domination of foreign charter airlines on the aviation market. El-Baradei's plan also suggested ways to provide the necessary funds to execute the goals it suggested. First, he proposed decreasing energy subsidies for energy-intensive industries like cement and fertilisers, and revising taxation policies to include property tax on the second home and a reasonable capital gains tax. El-Baradei further suggested resorting to international and Arab institutions to support the Egyptian economy. Enhancing exports to the US IN A BID to boost Egypt's exports to the United States, the US is working with Egypt's government and private sector to ensure that Egyptian companies benefit from the US Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme. The programme offers duty-free access to the US market to a wide array of Egyptian producers. At $2.2 billion in 2010, Egypt's exports to the US under the GSP programme accounted for only two per cent of overall trade volume between Egypt and the US. "GSP lacks appropriate awareness among major exporters in Egypt," said Mustafa El-Halwagi, chairman of the Industrial Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce, in a meeting held this week in Cairo. El-Halwagi stated that Egypt has a regular trade deficit of $25 billion per year and $2 billion per month. He added that it was high time for Egypt to make use of the GSP system, especially that Egypt desperately needs to increase its exports. "We have to explore every opportunity in order to improve our economy," he said. Egypt's top exports to the US under the GSP system include: aluminum products at $14.1 million, building stones at $5.8 million, and vegetables at $2.4 million. In a similar meeting this week, the Alexandria Business Association and the American Centre Alexandria organised a meeting in the coastal city for business owners, exporters, and leaders of small and medium enterprises. Together they discussed the benefits of the GSP programme. The US GSP programme eliminates duties on more than 3,400 products entering the US market from Egypt and other developing countries. In 2010, Egypt exported $51 million to the US under the GSP programme, including agricultural and manufactured products. Resolving land disputes EGYPT recently formed a committee designed to look into disputes between the government and real estate developers over land acquisitions. The committee, headed by Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri, is set to spare the government a string of arbitration cases which some companies appeared willing to take up. Many real estate developers have faced legal challenges to their land holdings after accusations of acquiring plots of land through illegal direct land allocation. Minister of Planning Fayza Abul-Naga stated that the committee would work on resolving land allocation problems by compensating the state for the difference in the land's value without confiscation. According to Abul-Naga, the committee has been studying 10 disputes, most of which have been resolved. The committee is currently finalising the settlement with Damac and Majid Al-Futtaim Group concerning their land allocations. The two companies are supposed to pay the government to compensate for the difference in the land value. In 2011 Damac filed an arbitration lawsuit in Washington against Egypt, after the government confiscated land it had purchased in 2006. Similarly, Al-Futtaim group threatened to resort to international courts after the government attempted to seize land it acquired in 1997.
