QNA/Doha


A number of Egyptian economists have praised Qatar’s support to Egypt, noting to the latest announcement of raising the Qatari deposit in Egypt’s Central Bank to $4bn and $1bn as a grant.
Raising the value of the Qatari economic assistance to Egypt represents a great leap in the   relations between the two countries in various fields, and contributes to push Egypt’s economy forward to get out of the current crisis, especially after Egypt’s foreign reserves fell to $15.014bn in December, and the Egyptian pound declined against the US dollar.
In a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA), spokesman for the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)’s Economic Committee Dr Mohamed Gouda said that they highly appreciate this step in supporting the Egyptian economy during the current phase.
The generous initiative by HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani will have a significant impact in supporting the Egyptian economy and in supporting cash reserves, he said, expressing the hope to push forward the bilateral economic co-operation during the next phase.
Dr Gouda noted Qatar’s decision will significantly contribute in pushing the Egyptian economy forward.
He also predicted that these investments will raise growth rates in Egypt during the upcoming period and will limit the phenomenon of unemployment, appreciating at the same time Qatar’s position in supporting the Egyptian revolution.  
For his part, vice-president of Nile University Dr Hamdy Abdel Azim, who is also an economic expert, told QNA that raising Qatar’s deposits represents a good and encouraging gesture by the State of Qatar to assist the Egyptian economy to recover, expressing hope to use these deposits for development investment projects and not for budget deficit financing.
The expert emphasised that the Qatari Future investments, estimated of $18bn over the next five years in the Egyptian market, should focus on food security projects and livestock production, fisheries, and everything related to the fields of food processing and natural resources, rather than exported raw materials, such as cement, iron and ceramics.
He also stressed the importance of the Qatari investments in major projects, including petrochemicals, instead of exporting crude oil, as well as the raw natural gas.
In his remarks to QNA, economic expert Ahmed Adam said that raising the Qatari deposit in Egypt’s Central Bank significantly contributed to the reduction of the large declines in the value of the pound against the dollar, and expected that the coming period would witness a relative lull in the exchange market.
He expressed his happiness for Qatar’s step to raise its deposit in the Central Bank of Egypt, saying that deposits generally are much better than loans, because the latter have conditions that should be provided by the borrowed country either from international institutions or international funds.
This step made by Qatar in Egypt can be considered a great moral support to the Egyptian people, Dr Adam said.
In a similar statement, banking expert Dr Mohsen al-Khudairi praised Qatar’s positive step, saying that the current circumstances of the Egyptian economy require support from the brotherly Arab countries to get out of its collapse.
He added, raising the value of the Qatari deposit to $4bn is not new from the State of Qatar, noting the great support for the 25 January revolution.

Emir receives phone
call from Mursi
HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has received a phone call from Egyptian President Dr Mohamed Mursi.
The two leaders reviewed bilateral relations and the latest developments in the region.
On Tuesday, President Mursi held talks with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani.
They reviewed bilateral ties and means to strengthen them in all domains and discussed other  regional and international issues  of common interest.