The Brazilian Ambassador offered transferring the experience of his country in reducing poverty rates and bringing about economic development through social development. Brazil has programs of pension and unemployment aid for the poor together with interest in small projects, which have helped to bring down poverty rates in Brazil.

Mr. Neto hailed the Egyptian government’s efforts, especially the rapid movement towards constitutional amendments to make possible the speedy election of a new president and parliament. This will contribute to a return to normalcy and a prompt recovery of the economy. The Brazilian Ambassador mentioned how his country had also suffered for a long time in the transfer from  military rule to a democratic country in 1986, taking long to reformulate the constitution—events which led then to economic instability and higher poverty rates.

Many Brazilian investors, especially those of Arab origin, he added, are interested in investing in Egypt. Brazil has 12 million people of Arab origin, about 6% of the total population. Additionally, the recent events that took place in Egypt have increased the lure of Egypt, which will lead to once more pumping of investments in the Egyptian markets as soon as the conditions return to normal.

Egyptian Finance Minister, Dr. Samir Radwan, said the successful Brazilian development experience is of special interest for Egypt since it belongs to a developing country with conditions similar to these of Egypt. Therefore, Egypt can benefit from the Brazilian experience more than from any other country with dissimilar circumstances.

The Egyptian minister asserts the Egyptian government’s continuous efforts to implement the economic reforms it started in 2004. Currently, the government focuses its efforts to face the economic impacts of the recent events which caused the general budget deficit to rise from 7.9% to 8.3% as a result of the financial cost of measures such as compensation for the establishments damaged or destroyed, compensation to individuals who lost their jobs, delayed payment of income tax (on instalments), cancelling fines for delayed payments of social security subscriptions or sales taxes of January and February.

(Source: Ministry of Finance)