Egypt will not be affected by the Tunisian crisis, minister of trade and industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid said Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference in Sharm El Sheikh ahead of the 2nd Arab Economic Summit, Rachid said: “Egypt is a different case than Tunisia. It’s not likely that a crisis like what’s happening in Tunisia will happen in Egypt.“
“Tunisia like many other Arab countries stopped subsidizing food and petroleum items many years ago," Rachid explained. "It became very volatile to any changes in world prices, that’s why consumers were directly hit and consequently frustration escalated.”
Explaining the difference with the situation in Egypt, Rachid said: “The subsidy system has protected consumers from 50 per cent increase in world food prices”.
The minister added that the recent Tunisian crisis will act as an accelerator to economic cooperation and integration between Arab states, saying “the problem in Tunisia was mainly economic".
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