Sherif Ismail Chaired Economic Ministerial Committee Meeting

PM Sherif Ismail, held meetings to the Ministerial Committee on Economic, in the presence of the governor of the Central Bank, and ministers of planning, housing, electricity, supply and internal trade, finance, investment, transport, agriculture, oil, and trade and industry.

Ambassador Hussam reviewed the special procedures to encourage the purchase of the domestic product, including contributes in support of the Egyptian industry and the reduction of import bill, which reflected positively on the foreign exchange.

The Committee has approved in its meeting today on the disposition of the five pieces of land owned by the Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport, the use of the proceeds of the sale of them in the implementation of plans for the restructuring of faltering companies.

Where it was noted that this comes within the framework of the efforts exerted by the Ministry of investment to advance the business sector through the development operations and restructuring, the General Assembly of the Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport had recently adopted a plan to restructure the transport companies and the buses that included the possibility of providing self-financing through the sale of five plots of land owned by the company, that the use of the proceeds of the sale in the implementation of the restructuring plans for transport companies for faltering debts, especially that the fleet of buses to such companies had limitations process has become mandatory replacement imperative since several years.

Ambassador Hussam Al Kawesh added that the report submitted by the Ministry of investment on the Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport explained that the replacement and renovation of the fleet of buses and the company would generate income and revenue and profits of reviewing the holding company owned by the Ministry of Finance, which is reflected in the future to increase the share of the Ministry in the distribution of the profits of the Holding Company and the stability of the positions of the companies and workers.

On the other hand, the Committee reviewed the economic causes of the increase in the quantity of maize imported, where it was noted that among the reasons for the increase of investments in the field of animal production and increasing the rates of the poultry farms, which contributed to an increase in the need for the raw materials fodder production which entailed a rise in imports of corn in comparison with previous years, where the value of the import bill to 1.6 billion dollars.

In this regard, the Committee agreed to the future plan for the development of the cultivation of maize, which include the increase of the cultivated area by a million feddans instead of half a million acres are currently cultivation, production of 3.5 million tons of maize, to increase the cultivated area in 2018 to reach 2 million feddans, so that the total production of maize and 7 million tons.