The Ministry of Antiquities Affairs needs EGP 40m from the state’s budget to pay debts owed to contractors and finance ongoing archaeological projects.
Minister of State for Antiquities Mohammed Ibrahim revealed the figured during a Thursday meeting with Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf El-Araby, where the pair discussed methods of coming up with the needed funds.
According to a statement released on Thursday, the Ministry of Antiquities is facing hurdles in implementing its projects due to a decrease in its revenues as a result of a slump in tourism since the 25 January Revolution.
The ministry depends on income from museums and archaeogical areas to finance projects and pay employee salaries, so it has struggled as Egypt’s security has soured in the wake of the revolution. The number of tourists arriving in Egypt registered a 30.7% year on year decline in December, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.
The department may also incur increased costs as a result of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Ibrahim in February expressed concern that the project may negatively affect Egyptian monuments due to of the instability of the ground after the water recedes.
Head of the ministry’s monuments division, Ali Al-Asfar, called on “the world to study the effect of the dam on Egyptian monuments.”
Despite these challenges, however, Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou said in January that he expects the number of tourists arriving in Egypt to increase to 12.5 million in 2014, compared to 9.5 million in the preceding year.
