CAIRO - Egypt's Minister of Finance Samir Radwan has called on Kuwaiti businesspeople to increase their investments in Egypt, saying that the North African country "will always be safe". "Prime Minister Essam Sharaf's Arab Gulf tour aimed at supporting Egypt's economy after the January 25 revolution," Radwan told Kuwait's Al-Anbaa newspaper Sunday. "We will uproot any problem facing Kuwaiti investors. It's very important to keep Kuwaiti investments in Egypt," Radwan said. There are 460 Kuwaiti projects worth LE24.5 billion ($4.1 billion). Egypt's State budget deficit stood at 7.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on January 25. Today it stands at 8.5 per cent of GDP. In the coming fiscal year, it may rise to 9.1 per cent of GDP," Radwan said, stressing that the Government will do whatever it can to pay salaries and pensions. "There will not be starvation in this country. It is a forbidden territory," he said. Nearly 40 per cent of the population live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank. As for unemployment in the most populous Arab country of 80 million people, Radwan said small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) will be at the centre of attention. "By 2020, SMEs will account for 42 per cent of jobs in Egypt." Egypt is targeting growth of four per cent in the next fiscal year that starts in July, according to Radwan. Unemployment in Egypt stands at nine per cent of workforce, according to the State-run Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). But unofficial reports say that unemployment stands at 15-20 per cent. Egypt's net international reserves fell 16 per cent to $30.1 billion in the first quarter, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). Egypt needs as much as $4 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends in June, and for 2012, Radwan said this week. The Government is also seeking about $2.2 billion in soft loans from the World Bank. The turmoil that accompanied the revolt, which ousted former president Hosni Mubarak in February, may reduce economic growth to one per cent this year, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook on April 11, the lowest annual rate since 1992.
