CAIRO, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Egypt hopes to be a member of the BRICS, an economic grouping of emerging nations, while it is in doubt whether the bid could be successful due to the continuing economic crisis and political instability in the country.
With his recent trip to Brazil, the first ever by an Egyptian head of state to the seventh strongest economy in the world, President Mohamed Morsi has visited all the BRICS countries, starting with China in August, India and South Africa in March, and Russia in April.
Morsi's attendance at a summit of the BRICS countries in late March in South Africa was also seen as kicking off a golden period for Egypt to boost ties with the emerging economies.
DESIRE
"Egypt is closely following up works of BRICS bloc," Morsi said, adding that "Egypt is exerting utmost efforts to join the BRICS by achieving a real development in all fields."
The president affirmed that Egypt is a strategic country and possesses tremendous economic power.
Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Hegazy, finance professor at the American University in Cairo, told Xinhua that Egypt needs foreign investments from countries other than European ones, which are reluctant to carry out projects in a country torn by political instability, while the BRICS nation's investors are used to working in difficult situations.
Also, Egypt wants to benefit from the experiences of the emerging countries in the fields of education, health, poverty combat and illiteracy, the professor said.
"For its lower interests compared to the domestic borrowing, the foreign loans are better for Egypt," Hegazy said, adding that it also gives the chance for the Egyptian banks to pump investments in projects, which could provide job opportunities.
In his first press conference after being sworn as minister for planning and international cooperation, Amr Darrag said on Wednesday that "BRICS countries had circumstances similar to Egypt, but they were able to achieve a big boom through the last 15 years. " He added that the economies of the five countries now represent 40 percent of the world economy.
On whether Egypt is qualified to join the BRICS, Hegazy said " for its political role in the region, Egypt as the biggest country in both the Arab region and the Middle East has the capabilities to join the bloc."
Egypt has good experiences in several fields, which could help other countries, bearing in mind that the main purpose of such economic gathering is achieving common interests, he added.
Hegazy predicted that Egypt will manage to join the BRICS, and its economic crisis will not obstruct its potentials. "The Egyptian market is big, attractive and trustable by investors," he said.
OBSTACLES
But the reality is that Egypt faces great financial hardship due to the two-year political unrest after the 2011 upheaval that ousted ex-President Hosni Mubarak, with shrinkage in foreign currency reserves, and decline of state revenues from tourism and investments sector.
Former Finance Minister el-Morsi Hegazy said in April that the state budget deficit had reached 10.1 percent of the country's GDP.
"Implementing package of social and economic reforms in speed, are necessary to overcome continuous increase in the budget deficit, which will negatively influence the ailing economy, and increase the dangers of exploding the inflation rates," said the ex-minister.
Gamal Bayoumy, secretary general of Arab Investors' Union, said Egypt wishes to be part of the BRICS as Morsi wants to prove how his country is open to the world and that "there is no fear from the Muslim Brotherhood's ruling over Egypt."
However, Bayoumy ruled out the possibility of Egypt's joining the BRICS currently.
"The chance is very weak and Egypt's economic conditions don't qualify it," he said.
Conditions for joining the BRICS require any country to cope with a growth rate of 8-10 percent, while that of Egypt is 2 percent now.
"Egypt couldn't join the BRICS within continuous economic crisis, and decrease of the economy rate, which requires urgent reforms," he added.
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