CAIRO: The monthly report issued by the Information Center of the Egyptian Cabinet in early June revealed a decline in job opportunities during the past month by the Bulletin of National Employment of some 13.1 percent compared to the same month in 2009. It comes as the number of jobs advertised in the Bulletin of National Employment dropped from about 26,000 in 2009 to about 22,400 in April. The report also revealed a decline in employment opportunities “advertised” in April in national newspapers by 58.3 percent compared to April last year. The report pointed to the continuing decline in employment opportunities provided by the Social Fund for Development, where the number of jobs provided by the Fund decreased from 25,000 in April 2009 to about 19,400 this April, a decline of 21.7 percent “and also employment opportunities provided by the local development fund by 60 percent decreased from April last year.” Concerning the indicator on bankruptcy cases, the report showed that the number of cases of primary bankruptcy amounted to 464 during the period from January to April of this year. Also seeing a decline was the numbers of citizens who use the railway as means of transportation; “from 275.6 million passengers during the period from July 2008 until the end of April 2009 to about 202.6 million passengers during the same period of the year 2010 by decrease of 26.4 percent.” This, the report argued signified a growing percentage of unemployment or those simply not seeking work. The report pointed out that the total loans granted to the government by banks rose by 3.7 percent in March, compared to the same month in 2009, “where the volume of loans obtained by the government rose from 31.8 billion pounds in March 2009 to about 33 billion pounds in the same month of 2010, while a decline in the volume of loans granted to the private sector was witnessed by 2.7 percent compared to the volume in the same month of the year 2009, where the volume of loans granted to the private sector dropped from 272.5 billion pounds to about 265 billion.” The report showed a decline in Suez Canal revenues during the month of April. The Canal garnered $374.9 million, a small decrease of 1.2 percent compared to the month of March, “when the Canal revenues amounted to $379.4 million dollars, the total number of vessels crossing the Suez Canal in April was about 1,466 ships compared to 1482 vessels that passed through the same month last year, a drop of 1.2 percent.” Concerning the indicators of the telecommunications sector, the report showed that the number of subscribers of fixed landlines went down by 11.6 percent through the end of April, “where the number of subscribers fixed phone from 11.8 million subscribers in 2009 to about 10.4 million subscribers in April 2010,” while the report showed the high number of subscribers in mobile phones from 44.6 million subscribers in April 2009 to about 57.7 million subscribers in April 2010, an increase of 29.4 percent.” BM
