Egypt's economic reform program more than 85% complete

More than 85 percent of Egypt's ongoing economic reform programme has been put into effect so far, newly-appointed Finance Minister Mohamed Maeet said in an interview with Al-Ahram Arabic newspaper hours before his swearing in to the new cabinet on Thursday.

In the lengthy interview, Minister Maeet spoke about a number of issues including price hikes and his goals to make government subsidies available to those citizens who deserve it.

Asked about the ongoing reforms, Maeet said that the benefits include new job opportunities, increasing production rates, maintaining reserves and reducing the budget deficit and borrowing.

"We aim to create more job opportunities; we also aim to make foreign currency available while decreasing the inflation rates," said Maeet, adding, "We cannot deny that the Egyptian citizens have been suffering from the economic situation."

The minister also pointed out that recent salary raises for government employees were aimed at alleviating the burden of the new price hikes.

"We are aware of the price hikes, which are what urged us to bring in an increase in [government] salaries greater than those introduced last year," said the minister.