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Roundup: Egypt makes great strides toward green economy – Xinhua

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by Mahmoud Fouly, Abdel-Meguid Kamal

CAIRO, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) — Egypt has made great strides in implementing its national strategy on green economy and is expanding its investments to carry out eco-friendly projects to improve the quality of life for its citizens, according to economic experts.

The North African country is currently implementing a series of green and environment-friendly projects in the sectors of energy, electricity, transportation, water, sanitation and irrigation.

The projects include the Benban Solar Park, a complex of solar power stations in Upper Egypt’s province of Aswan, which has recently been inaugurated by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

Egypt’s green projects in these sectors amounted to 30 percent of the state budget allocation for investments during the current fiscal year that ends in late June 2022, according to Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala Al-Saeed.

The government seeks to raise the percentage of green projects to 50 percent of the budget allocated for investments in 2024.

“The Egyptian strategy for the transition to a green economy is part of Egypt’s 2030 strategy, as the implementation of projects under green economy regulations guarantees better financing opportunities for them from international institutions, and also improves Egypt’s rating in relevant indicators,” Egyptian economist Walid Gaballah told Xinhua.

Gaballah, also a member of the Egyptian Society for Political Economy, Statistics and Legislation, added that green projects have become a tangible reality in Egypt that citizens are following and talking about, such as the projects of Benban solar power plant, the electric trains, the natural gas-fueled cars and others.

“Increasing the percentage of green public investments this much reflects the country’s determination to achieve the requirements of its transition to green economy and motivate the private sector to go in the same direction, with an eye on becoming a pioneer in green economy in the region,” the expert said.

Egypt launched its national strategy on green economy in April 2016 during the African Ministerial Conference on Environment held in Cairo, and the Egyptian government vowed that the environment was one of the cornerstones of Egypt’s 2030 strategy.

The country’s strategy for a gradual transition to a green economy was launched in partnership with the United Nations Environment Program and the Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe.

“Egypt has made great strides in the field of green economy and is in the process of transferring its government to a new green administrative capital city that implements all the requirements of green transformation,” Gaballah said.

The Egyptian government has already held its first meeting with its full body at the newly built administrative capital city east of Cairo in late December 2021 as part of the gradual relocation of government offices to the new capital.

Egypt’s Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh will host in November the 27th edition of the UN climate change conference (COP27) as announced by the international organization during COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.

Experts believe the summit will be an opportunity to promote Egypt’s green projects and attract more green investments to the country, which will boost the Egyptian transition to green economy.

“Egypt has been chosen to host COP27 due to its efforts environment-related issues. This will certainly enhance its orientation towards a green economy,” said Egyptian economic expert Karim Al-Omda.

Al-Omda, a lecturer at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, pointed out that the energy sector is the most investment-attractive in Egypt, noting that the country seeks to gradually cover 42 percent of its needs of electricity through renewable energy sources by 2035, compared to 20 percent at present.

“Egypt is following a strategy of transition to green economy because it represents the future,” the expert told Xinhua.

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Minimum wage to hire higher-paid temporary foreign workers set to increase

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OTTAWA – The federal government is expected to boost the minimum hourly wage that must be paid to temporary foreign workers in the high-wage stream as a way to encourage employers to hire more Canadian staff.

Under the current program’s high-wage labour market impact assessment (LMIA) stream, an employer must pay at least the median income in their province to qualify for a permit. A government official, who The Canadian Press is not naming because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the change, said Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault will announce Tuesday that the threshold will increase to 20 per cent above the provincial median hourly wage.

The change is scheduled to come into force on Nov. 8.

As with previous changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program, the government’s goal is to encourage employers to hire more Canadian workers. The Liberal government has faced criticism for increasing the number of temporary residents allowed into Canada, which many have linked to housing shortages and a higher cost of living.

The program has also come under fire for allegations of mistreatment of workers.

A LMIA is required for an employer to hire a temporary foreign worker, and is used to demonstrate there aren’t enough Canadian workers to fill the positions they are filling.

In Ontario, the median hourly wage is $28.39 for the high-wage bracket, so once the change takes effect an employer will need to pay at least $34.07 per hour.

The government official estimates this change will affect up to 34,000 workers under the LMIA high-wage stream. Existing work permits will not be affected, but the official said the planned change will affect their renewals.

According to public data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 183,820 temporary foreign worker permits became effective in 2023. That was up from 98,025 in 2019 — an 88 per cent increase.

The upcoming change is the latest in a series of moves to tighten eligibility rules in order to limit temporary residents, including international students and foreign workers. Those changes include imposing caps on the percentage of low-wage foreign workers in some sectors and ending permits in metropolitan areas with high unemployment rates.

Temporary foreign workers in the agriculture sector are not affected by past rule changes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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PBO projects deficit exceeded Liberals’ $40B pledge, economy to rebound in 2025

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OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.

However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.

The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.

The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.

The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says levels of food insecurity rose in 2022

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OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.

In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.

The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.

Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.

In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.

It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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