Dr Hisham Kandel Held Economic Group Meeting

Prime minister Dr Hisham Kandel held economic group meeting in attendance of: governor of central bank, ministers of finance, investment, industry, planning, and the secretary general of the cabinet of ministers. Minister of finance mentioned that the meeting discussed the results of talks and discussions between prime minister and Delegations of states of Qatar, Libya, and U.S. Ambassador, as the U.S administration seeks to help Egyptian government in IMF negotiations. Also he said that the meeting reviewed the results of talks between prime minister and Libyan delegation , as the Libyan delegation called for the return of large Egyptian companies in the field of construction like Arab Contractors Company and Hassan Allam Company ,and they welcomed the return of 1 million Egyptian worker in the Libyan market , also the Libyan side could offer economic aids to Egypt that reaches 2 billion dollar in the case of the release of frozen and smuggled funds abroad to be placed as a deposit at the Central Bank.

The Libyan delegation promised to provide full protection to the Egyptian workers in Libya, in addition to increasing Libyan investments in Egypt. Also Minister of Finance mentioned that the meeting discussed the visit of the Qatari delegation headed by His Highness the President of the State of Qatar, as the Qatari side promised to provide assistance to the Egyptian economy through deposit worth 2 billion dollar in the Central Bank of Egypt for 8 years , half a billion dollar will be received before Eid al-Fitr holiday , and the rest of the amount in September 2012 . Minister of finance thanked the Qatari side for supporting Egyptian economy through participation in huge projects, and attracting Qatari investments to Egypt, and the Egyptian government promised to remove all obstacles faced by the Qatari investments in Egypt. Also minister of finance said that the meeting discussed the talks between prime minister and U.S ambassador to Egypt, as the Egyptian government asked the U.S administration for the support in activating IMF loan.

The U.S administration promised to allocate 50 million pounds for Sinai development, 500 million dollar to support state budget. The Egyptian government requested the arrival of IMF mission to identify the economic and social program set by the Egyptian government, to be followed later by the arrival of a technical mission from the Fund to review procedures and to start implementing the procedures for obtaining a loan of 3.2 billion dollar. The importance of completing the procedures for this loan is to send a message to all financial institutions that the Egyptian economy is capable to recover as soon as possible. The Egyptian government will sign an agreement with international bank to allocate 200 million dollar for the social fund to promote small enterprises in Upper Egypt. Minister of finance explained that the meeting tackled ways of activating rules of immunization of Egypt’s rights in the smuggled money abroad, also he issued directives to all state agencies and government departments concerning disbursement of salaries of employees in the administrative apparatus of the state before Eid al-Fitr.