During a meeting with business people, the official ratified his confidence in the solidity of the national economy and its flexibility to face the global challenges caused by the situation in Ukraine.

As part of the strategy, Maait recalled that the Government recently launched an incentive package worth 130 billion pounds (more than seven billion dollars).

According to official figures, Egypt, with 103 million inhabitants, is the world’s largest wheat importer, and 80 percent of it comes from Russia and Ukraine.

In late March, Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said lowered the Gross Domestic Product growth forecasts for the next fiscal year to 5.5 percent, two tenths fewer than planned in January.

In response to the crisis, the Central Bank of Egypt raised interest rates by one percent some days earlier, and the price of the dollar rose to the Egyptian pound to its highest level in five years.

jg/iff/rgh/rob