Egyptian gov’t working to ease economic crisis: Sisi at Military Academy

CAIRO – 19 August 2023: The Egyptian government is working on a set of measures in order to alleviate the repercussions of the economic crisis, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said on Saturday.

In a speech during an inspection tour in the Military Academy in Cairo, Sisi underlined the state’s determination to reach permanent solutions to the crisis that causes commodities prices to hike amid the increase in the import bill.

He affirmed the need to tackle the issues related to local industrial and production requirements in a way that reduces the import bill.

 

Fuel, electricity

In his speech, the president said the state requires 18 tons of mazut per day in order to ensure that the power plants work with full efficiency.

Sisi noted that the state needs to pay up to $350 million monthly in order to obtain the required quantities mazut for power plants, which total more than half a million tons.

Concerning gasoline, Sisi said the state imports a large part of the gasoline required for cars with 10 million vehicles being driven nationwide.

 

Boosting agricultural production

Over the coming year, the state will be able to add more than 3 million feddans to the area of cultivated lands across the nation, including in Sinai, New Delta and Toshka, Sisi said.

He added that although the new lands will secure more crops, the state will still be required to import large quantities of commodities, especially wheat, cooking oil and corn.

According to Sisi, Egyptians consume at least 18-19 million tons of wheat on an annual basis with the number subject to increase to around 20 million tons.

“Even we produce half of it (wheat), we will still have to acquire the other 50 percent from abroad,” the president stressed.