CAIRO - People may differ about what they think of 2010. But numbers tell the truth. If we take a brief look at some statistics and indicators for this year, we have to admit that Egypt really hasn't gone too far in 2010. Egypt now ranks 101 in the United Nation Development Index, up two places from 103 in 2005. Egypt also ranks 17th among 135 countries that have made progress in long-term development, a UN report adds. The report refers to nine things Egypt needs to do, pointing out that youth should always be the focus of any development. It also shows that the economic crisis is still hindering the efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that should be fulfiled by 2015. Egypt's economy expanded 5.6 per cent in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2009/2010, up from 5.4 per cent in the previous three months. Economists predict that the most populous Arab country will score GDP growth of 5.5 per cent in fiscal year 2010/2011. According to the World Bank, the real growth rate of the world economy was only 0.9 per cent in 2009, although this is expected to increase to about 3 per cent by the end of this year. Earlier this year, the Government announced that the poverty rate in 2010 had jumped to 23.4 per cent, up from 20 per cent the previous year. In Egypt, poverty has persisted despite the growth in other economic indicators such as GDP. One wonders why subsidies haven't reduced poverty. According to a recent report issued by the Cabinet's Information and Decisionmaking Support Centre, reviewing Egypt's efforts to achieve the MDGs, the main challenge facing efforts to reduce poverty in Egypt is to maintain higher income per capita over a long period. This is clearly dependent on increasing economic growth, while at the same time reducing population growth. Consumer inflation in Egypt fell in November to 10.2 per cent, its lowest rate in 15 months, down from 11.7 per cent the previous month. The decrease has given Egypt's Central Bank room to keep its benchmark interest rates unchanged in December to supporteconomic growth. The food and beverage index shrunk 2.24 per cent compared to a decline of 0.16 per cent last month, leading to a decrease in the annual food price inflation to 17.1 per cent year-over-year in November, from 19.9 per cent in October. Nonetheless, such growth is still below the 7 per cent achieved during the three fiscal years until June 2008, which was halted by the global financial turmoil that affected revenue from the Suez Canal, tourism and foreign direct investment. The State forecasts that GDP will expand by about six per cent in FY 2011/2012 and says that seven per cent growth is needed to provide jobs for the750,000 people who join the workforce annually. As well as the growing economy, the country's population growth makes investment, especially in infrastructure, attractive. Egypt wants to open up areas such as education and health services to private participation, says Minister of Trade and Investment Rashid Mohamed Rashid, who is also acting Investment Minister. Egyptian population in 2010 has risen to almost 80.5 million. Population growth rate was about 1.997 per cent in July 2010, slightly down from 2.033 per cent the previous year. According to the statistics, one in every four Egyptians is illiterate. Despite free education and long-running literacy programmes, the number of illiterates has changed little in over two decades. Nearly 17 million adult Egyptians can neither read nor write, according to recent governmental data. The objectives of the education strategy in the Sixth Five Year Socioeconomic Developmental Plan (2007-2012 ) are to increase enrolment rates; increase the number of schools within the framework of the Presidential Election Programme (that stipulates the building of 3,500 new schools); reduce class density; support early childhood development (four to five years); and decrease illiteracy rates. According to governmental reports, Egypt is very likely to achieve universal primary education for all boys and girls in a timely fashion. As for female literacy, the gender gap is expected to reach 0.4 per cent in 2015, meaning that that the gender gap will almost have closed. According to a governmental poll, 67 per cent of young Egyptians are computer savvy, up from 61 per cent last year. The percentage of young people using the Internet in 2010 is 45 per cent, up from 36 per cent in 2009. The number of Internet users in Egypt has increased during the past ten years, rising to approximately 14.5 million in November 2009 from 300,000 in October 1999. Moreover, the percentage of Internet users increased to 19 per cent in November 2009, up from only one per cent in October 1999. In January 2010, Facebook came second among the websites preferred by the Egyptians, preceded by Google.com.eg, as the number of Egyptian Facebook usersreached 2.4 million users at that date. Egypt ranked first among Arab countries and 23rd worldwide, in terms of using Facebook, with the percentage of its Egyptian users amounting to 1 per cent of total users around the world. This year Egypt came 98th with 3.7 out of 10 points in the Corruption Perception Index, issued by rights watchdog Transparency International (TI), out of 178 countries on its list. Egypt was ranked 11th among Arab countries after Qatar, the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Tunisia, Morocco and Djibouti. It was followedby Algeria, Syria, Lebanon, Mauritania, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Iraq and Somalia. This year, Egypt's national football achieved its highest-ever FIFA ranking - ninth place - bursting into the top ten for the first time.
