| Kippreport.com

Egypt aims to cut poverty to 15 pct from 20 pct by 2015

September 29, 2010 1:23 by Reuters

Egypt’s Economic Development Minister said on Wednesday the country’s poverty rate could be reduced to 15 percent from 20 within five years.

“I would say by 2015, we could reach a poverty rate of 15 percent,” Osman Mohamed Osman told reporters at a press conference held in Cairo.

Egypt is the Arab world’s most populous state with an estimated population of 78 million. A fifth of Egypt’s population lives on less than a dollar a day, according to the United Nations.

Egypt’s finance minister said in a conference in Cairo on Tuesday he saw the country’s economy growing 6 percent in the financial year ending in June 2011.

The economy grew by 5.2 percent in 2009/10 and 4.7 percent in 2008/09.

(Reporting by Yamine Saleh, writing by Sarah Mikhail; Editing by Ron Askew)

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