Egypt plans extra stimulus by year-end, Suez Canal project

The Egyptian government will launch a new economic stimulus package by the end of the year, the finance minister said on Monday, bringing forward spending plans that will help revive the economy but put even more strain on state coffers.

Pointing to efforts to attract new investment, the military-backed government also said it would launch a tender to draw up plans to develop a corridor around the Suez Canal, reviving a mega-project tabled by deposed president Mohamed Mursi.

The government ministers were speaking at a Euromoney conference aimed at boosting confidence in an economy battered by close to three years of political turmoil, dating back to the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.

Boosted by financial support from Gulf states hostile to Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, the government installed in July is pumping billions of dollars into the economy of the Arab world's most populous nation.

Finance Minister Ahmed Galal said the second stimulus package, previously estimated at 24 billion Egyptian pounds ($3.5 billion), would be launched "before January". The government had previously indicated it might only be brought in early next year.

The first stimulus package was initially set at 22.3 billion pounds, but the government announced on Oct. 21 it had increased it to 29.6 billion pounds.