Finance Minister Samir Radwan on Thursday said Saudi Arabia has offered the Egyptian government US$200 million in financial aid to help offset the state budget deficit.
Radwan also said the ministry is studying the possibility of establishing a LE2 billion fund for unemployment compensations and for creating job opportunities for 750,000 fresh graduates.
The minister added that the government is also studying settlement options with certain detained businessmen and investors, according to which they will return large sums of money that they have siphoned abroad, as repatriating this money through normal channels is a highly complicated and difficult process.
He also expected an increase in the state budget deficit of 10 percent and a decrease in the growth rate from 5 percent to 3 percent, adding that meeting the demands of the recent labor protests had cost the budget some LE7 billion so far.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
