Minister of Economic Development Dr. Othman Mohamed Othman said the Egyptian economic growth rate will fall from 7% to 5% or 5.5% due to the global financial crisis, but at the same time expected that the inflation rate will fall from 15% to less than 10% in 2009 in light of the prices of food and energy going down. He said in a conference held yesterday in the Cabinet Information Center that the high growth rates achieved by Egypt in the past three years could have lowered poverty rates, but they were prevented by inflation and the rising food prices during the same period. The minister admitted that 20% of the Egyptian people (16 million) live on only LE 164 per month, although the poverty rate fell from 23% to 18.9%, and although 70% of the population passed the poverty line, stressing that the government will adopt policies to offset the expected decrease in the rate of economic growth over the next two years.
Meanwhile, the report prepared by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics and the World Bank said that an agricultural growth by one percent reduces poverty by 3%. Dr. Sherine el-Shayeb, a member of the World Bank, said: “The rising prices and the high inflation have reduced the positive effects of the high rates of growth, which has increased the cost of living among the poor by 47%.” Former Minister of Economy Dr. Sultan Abu Ali said: “We would celebrate if the growth rate reached 3% this fiscal year,” doubting the 5% that the minister talked about.
