Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif is to announce Monday in the People's Assembly a package of exceptional measures to face the global financial crisis in all fields, on top of which is the launch of a fund for facing the global crisis, and a higher ministerial committee to be chaired by the PM to follow up developments. Another emergency committee is to be formed to follow up the global crisis impacts on the Suez Canal. Nazif is also expected to announce the allocation of LE 1.2 billion, within an LE 7-billion emergency plan, to supply 12 industrial zones with utilities as a first phase, and the allocation of some 500,000 acres for new investments in 11 agrarian industries. Nazif's speech would also grant the capital commodities custom exemptions worth LE 2.8 billion. He also would announce the endorsement of incentive measures for farmers. Meanwhile, President Mubarak held a meeting yesterday with Nazif, Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi and the ministers of housing, tourism and transportation to discuss the global financial crisis fallouts on transportation, construction and tourism. Housing Minister Ahmed al-Maghrabi said Mubarak ordered the doubling of the residential units which were supposed to be erected as a first phase in the one-thousand poorest villages' project to 40,000 instead of 20,000.
