CAIRO: A report issued by the European Commission in Brussels said that the rates of investment in Egypt has been significantly damaged as a result of the global financial crisis and this has had a negative impact on the privatization process in Egypt because of a “lack of liquidity in global banks.” The report pointed out that the Central Bank of Egypt in February 2009 reduced interest rates from 11.5 percent to 8.25 percent in order to stimulate investment in the country and that the trigger of this crisis “also reflected lower revenues from tourism and [the] Suez Canal and remittances from workers abroad, which in turn led to increase in the balance of payments deficit of Egypt.” The report, which monitored economic developments in Egypt during 2009, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, said that Egypt is “one of the few countries worldwide, which has achieved a positive growth rate in GDP, as it reached 4.7 percent last year despite the conditions of the global financial crisis.” The report praised Egypt's efforts to move forward to implement the European Partnership Agreement and to engage effectively in the European Neighborhood Policy and projects “a serious and sophisticated in the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean, which is reflected in the signing in the October 2009 agreement to liberalize trade in agricultural commodities and processed agricultural and fish and marine products to double the exports of these commodities.” The report monitored the developments, which is witnessed by Egypt in the field of health and the direction of Egypt towards the establishment of a food safety and the issuance of a uniform law for food, as well as its accession to the European Union system of notification quickly against hazardous materials RAPEX with respect to food products and animal food products. The European Commission also praised Egypt's efforts for the development of the industrial sector to adapt to European standards, which was reflected on the remarkable progress in negotiations for Egypt`s accession to the convention on the harmonization and conformity standards of the European Union, known as the ACAA. BM
