CAIRO: A monthly report issued by the Information Centre of the Egyptian Cabinet on Saturday, revealed that job opportunities declined during the month of March by 66 percent compared to February, as the number of jobs advertised in the Bulletin for National Employment declined by some 30,000 jobs in February to about 10,000 jobs in March. The report also revealed a decline in demand for Egyptian labor abroad by 58 percent compared to one year ago. The report pointed to the decrease of job opportunities provided by the Social Fund for Development dropping from 23,000 jobs in February to about 20,000 jobs in March, as the number of opportunities provided by the local development fund declined by 72.6 percent compared to the past year. The report also showed an increase in the number of primary bankruptcy cases by 1.3 percent through the end of November last year compared to previous year, amounting to about 1,055 cases, while the number of final bankruptcy closures increased by 17.3 percent, rising from 98 cases to 115 cases. “The numbers of citizens who use trains dropped from 250.6 million passengers during the period from July 2008 until the end of March 2009 to about 5.18 million passengers during the period from July 2009 until the end of March 2010,” the report said, which they linked to the downturn in job opportunities across the country. The report showed a rise in loans granted to the government by banks by 2.8 percent in February compared to the previous year, “where the volume of loans obtained by the government rose from 31 billion pounds in January 2009 to about 32.6 billion pounds this January.” The report referred to a decline in the volume of loans granted to the private sector by 7.4 percent compared to last year, which fell from 271 billion pounds to about 258 billion pounds. The report did show a rise in Suez Canal revenues in March, to about $379.4 million, up 13.6 percent compared to February, and the total number of vessels crossing the canal amounted to 1,467 ships compared to 1,256 vessels in February, up by 16 percent. BM
