(MENAFN) Egypt's new Prime Minister Hisham Kandil vowed to put growth, budget deficit cut on the top of its government's priorities, Reuters reported.
Kandil said he was finalizing an economic reform plan that would involve a reform in the subsidies system, expecting economy to grow in the current financial year by 3 to 4 percent or more if investment goals are achieved.
Kandil also said the government targets lower budget deficit by 1 percent in two years. Budget deficit is currently at about 8 percent of GDP.
Kandil said the government wants to make fuel and other subsidies more targeted and a coupon or smart card system to ensure the poor, rather than everyone, received subsidized butane cooking gas was expected to start in October.
Also in the plan, there will be cuts to gasoline subsidies in the coming months, he said, adding that these measures were part of efforts to achieve the government's deficit reduction target, although he said targets would depend on what the population could tolerate.
Egypt has been struggling since the wake of the popular uprising last year, which caused foreign investors and tourists, two vital cash streams, to flee.
To win back foreign investors, the government also has to sell economic restructuring to Egypt's 83 million people, many in dire poverty and desperate to see the benefits of the revolt.
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