WASHINGTON - Badly in need of cash flow, Egypt appealed on Friday to the US business community to help the country rebuild following street protests that pushed its president out in February. "We need the support of everyone," Egypt's Finance Minister Hazem el-Beblawi told the biggest business lobby, the US Chamber of Commerce. "Some of our friends, because of the uncertainty, they are taking an attitude of wait and see," he said. Beblawi, a former adviser to the Arab Monetary Fund who recently joined Egypt's new rulers, said his country's economy was essentially robust and that his government was committed to the rule of law. "Investors will not come unless there is a free market," he said. "We have the same infrastructure, same industry, our ports our working. We had about four to five months of decline in tourism, but it is now picking up." The Egyptian government has forecast growth of somewhere between 3 to 3.5 per cent in the current fiscal year ending June and has narrowed its budget deficit to 8.6 per cent of gross domestic product. Since Beblawi started working as the country's finance minister in July, he said he has discovered the difficulties of the present situation. "We have a problem of cash flow," he said, noting that there were increasing demands on one hand and resources drying up on the other. "We have to maintain peace and law... so our real problem is immediate cash flow. This is what we really need." Egypt has been in talks on a financial package with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that could top $5 billion. The ruling army council abandoned plans in June for a $3 billion financing deal with the International Monetary Fund, wary of conditions that come attached to IMF lending programs. In an interview with Reuters, Beblawi said Egypt was "open" to talks with the IMF, although did not commit to hold discussions with the Washington-based global lender. "We need to draw on international and regional financial institutions and they seem to be committed to allocate to the region reasonable funds," he told Reuters. Beblawi is in Washington for weekend meeting of the IMF/World Bank meetings. He told reporters on the sidelines of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce event that Egypt expects funding from the Arab countries "very shortly." "We are talking with them. They are showing goodwill. We have not finalized it, but we expect to finalize it quite soon," he said. "We believe we have more friends than UAE and Saudi Arabia, so whoever will reciprocate our offer of friendship, we will welcome it. No one (is) excluded." At the US Chamber of Commerce, executives from companies such as Coca-Cola welcomed Beblawi and said they were encouraged by the new government's actions. Representatives from big US companies, including Coca-Cola and General Electric paid a visit to Egypt in June. US businesses have invested about $11.6 billion into Egypt to date."The private sector that has been engaged in Egypt for decades, is still very very interested in not only remaining there but growing investments in the country's economy," said Lionel Johnson, the Chamber's vice president for Middle East and North Africa affairs.
