CAIRO - Egyptian pensioners began cashing their pensions Thursday at ATMs in Cairo and some other cities of the troubled nation. “As for those who get their money from post offices and banks, it will be available as usual on February 10 and February 20,” Egypt's newly appointed Minister of Finance Samir Radwan told reporters. “Imports of basic commodities will be released without the payment of customs duties, in order to meet the demand,” he said. Radwan was named Egypt's Finance Minister on Monday, after the Government of prime minister Ahmed Nazif had been sacked in view of riots and massive protests nationwide that began to rage on Tuesday last week. A new Cabinet led by Ahmed Shafiq, who was Minister of Civil Aviation in Nazif's former Government, has taken the helm, aiming at combating unemployment and poverty in this North African country, where 40 per cent of people live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank. Radwan, a well-known economist who worked for 28 years for the International Labour Organisation, has unveiled plans to compensate individuals and businesses for their losses, after the country was gripped by chaos. The new Government has a big challenge ahead, as it tries to deal with the repercussions of the week-long protests that have caused Egypt's stocks to lose $70 billion. In the two years prior to the global recession, the country's economy grew by an average of seven per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), slowing to 4.7 per cent in fiscal year 2008/09. In FY 2009/10, it picked up to 5.2 per cent. Over the past six years, Egypt has taken a raft of measures to boost growth rates and attract more FDI. Since 2004, Egypt has netted $49.2 billion in FDI.
