CAIRO – Egypt needs investments worth $12 billion over the coming two years, the country's Minister of Finance Samir Radwan said on Thursday. "The $12 billion investments include $1 billion for the current State budget and $10 billion for next year," Radwan told reporters before a ministerial meeting in Cairo on Thursday. Radwan said public outlays are forecast to reach LE509.3 billion or around $90 billion this year. "Subsidy allocations are seen to rise to LE177.5 billion from LE126.6 billion in the previous State budget," he said. Radwan, a well-known economist who served 28 years at the International Labour Organisation before appointed as finance minister in February, has unveiled that his ministry aims at reining in the State budget deficit and bringing about social justice through financial and investment spending, forecasting a deficit of 10 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year. Earlier he forecast a deficit of 9.1 per cent of GDP. The deficit increase "depends on revenues, which are weak and growth rate, which fell to 2.1 per cent of GDP". "The Government was looking forward to extending the social justice schemes, but as the economy has slumped after the January 25 revolution, sectoral protests, it hardly can make ends meet," he explained. The political turmoil may reduce economic growth to one per cent this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its World Economic Outlook on April 11, the lowest annual rate since 1992. Tourism, Egypt's top foreign currency earner, has been hit the hardest, is losing $1 billion a month, according to the Central Bank of Egypt. Egypt has seen many sectoral protests and riots after the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak on February 11. The most populous Arab country of 80 million people is targeting growth of four per cent of GDP in the next fiscal year that starts in July, Radwan said last week.
