Prime Minister Hesham Qandil offered reassurances on the economy Wednesday to a small group of Egyptians living in Qatar, expressing optimism on the heels of new foreign aid.
"The Egyptian economy is not a zero like you think or the media makes you think. The government is continuing to bolster it and it has achieved a growth of 2 percent last February," those present reported him as saying.
Qandil is in Doha with a Cabinet delegation to meet with local officials. Qatar pledged on Wednesay another US$3 billion in assistance for Egypt as well as natural gas supplies to help the country meet its power needs.
The prime minister attributed the decline of the Egyptian pound to external and internal debts and unrest, attendees said.
"The people are not used to democracy and Egypt needs political calm," he said, according to attendees.
Egyptian Ambassador to Doha Mohamed Morsy prevented journalists from attending the meeting, reportedly due to media criticism of a recent interview in which the president said he would not allow foreigners “to poke their fingers into Egypt.”
As rumors of a cabinet reshuffle swirl back home, Qandil said that some have asked him to step down. He reportedly said resigning would be like shunting responsibility, while he prefers to confront problems directly.
About 20 officials and prominent Egyptians attended the meeting, including the ambassador, seven representatives of the Egyptian community's board led by Mohamed al-Naggar, Mahmdouh Radwan, a businessman and member of the Egyptian-Qatar business council, engineers who work in the field of petroleum, and judge Abdel Raouf al-Baqie.
Naggar said Qandil insisted that there isn’t a gas or diesel crisis in Egypt, adding that the media tends to exaggerate problems.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
