The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected an increase in Egypt’s inflation rate, which, the organization noted, would further burden the government.
The IMF also predicted that political turmoil in the region would force the Egyptian government to step up spending on social services.
IMF Mission Chief for Egypt Alan MacArthur advised the government to abolish subsidies on petroleum products, from which, he contended, wealthier segments of the population benefited most.
At a symposium organized by the Egyptian Research Center on Sunday, Ranta Sahay, assistant director of the IMF's Middle East department, said that Egypt ranked worst in the region in terms of education, training and labor qualifications.
Sahay also expected the ranks of Egypt's unemployed to rise from 2.3 million people in 2008 to 7.1 million in 2020. He called on the Egyptian government to work towards achieving an annual growth rate of ten percent in an effort to create new job opportunities.
An Egyptian Finance Ministry official, however, said that the ministry planned to allocate more funds to petroleum-product subsidies in the 2011/12 state budget due to steadily rising petrol prices on the global market.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
