Minister of Industry and Trade Rachid Mohamed Rachid said the government seeks to raise industrial growth by ten percent which will require the country to import energy in order to meet demand for new investments and factories.
"There is nothing wrong with importing energy in order to meet the needs of increased investments," Rachid said, adding that this will "eventually raise economic indicators." The United States imports energy despite the fact that it is the biggest producer of energy in the world, he said. There are also countries that only import energy.
To facilitate this growth, the government does not plan to export new energy discoveries, he said.
Over the last 20 years, energy prices have changed and states have been required to review their energy export policies. Prior to these changes, Egypt used to export large quantities of petroleum and natural gas because industrial growth rates in Egypt were as low as two percent, Rachid added.
Factories are increasingly being constructed near energy sources in order to avoid high transportation costs and to secure energy needs, he clarified.
His ministry undertook an initiative to adjust energy prices for factories and to implement new energy plans; however, the international financial crisis hampered the ministry’s efforts, Rachid concluded.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
