The Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil stated in his opening speech at the Euromoney Conference that the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) mission will arrive in Egypt by the end of this month in order foster the communications between the Egyptian government and IMF over the loan that Egypt has earlier requested. The government has a program aiming at increasing the country's resources and controlling the spending rates in order to reduce the budget deficit, he added. Such plan will be offered for discussion soon so as to allow all Egyptians to participate in setting the economic reform plan for Egypt. Restructuring the financial system is one of the main goals of the plan, he revealed. Kandil, then, stated the main challenges facing the Egyptian economy. He said the widening budget deficit, which accounted for 12% of GDP, represents a great obstacle to economic development. In addition, the new investment rate was down to US$ 4.6 billion last year. Kandil affirmed the government's seriousness on developing natural resources, facing cultural and societal challenges and reducing illiteracy rate which reached 25% through improving educational systems to comply with international standards.
