Egypt's government has spent 40% of the amount allocated for the implementation of its economic stimulus plan, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf El-Araby unveiled on Tuesday. El-Araby called a faster implementation of stimulus projects in order to generate revenues in the current fiscal year. This announcement was made during the first meeting of the economic ministerial group on Tuesday, headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb, attended by ministers of Finance, Petroleum, Planning and International Cooperation, and Agriculture, in addition to Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Governor Hisham Ramez. The previous government, led by former prime minister Hazem El-Beblawi, had announced its first economic stimulus plan in August with the value of EGP 29.6bn, focusing on infrastructure-related projects. On 10 February, the government announced that it had expended 30% of the stimulus package's first tranche. "Project implementation wasn't as hoped due to the instability followed 30 June," the former cabinet spokesman noted in February, listing that the government finished delivering natural gas to 340,000 residential units and reforming 150 railway crossings, which were part of the plan. Ahmed Galal, former Minister of Finance, pointed out in December that the first package will be funded from a EGP 60bn deposit held in the CBE after the Gulf War in the 1990's. Strengthening electricity grids, completing 17 road projects to link governorates, constructing 50,000 residential units and reclaiming 32,600 agriculture acres were part of the projects involved in the first package. The second economic stimulus package, valued at EGP 30bn, was announced in December. Focusing on development projects, the package is funded by a $2.8bn (nearly EGP 20bn) in aid from the UAE. The remaining EGP 10bn of the package will finance the minimum income system and government's social security programmes. The investment plan will yield results by the end of Q1 FY 2013/2014, Galal said earlier in January. During the meeting, Mehleb revealed that his cabinet is planning to address the country's economic challenges from "their roots" to be answered on the long term, adding that they would not depend on "relief which [only] solves problems for a while".
