Former investment minister Mahmoud Mohieldin speaks with Al Mal: Egypt needs to focus more on creating employment opportunities away from urban centers and in rural areas, former Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin told Al Mal in an interview. Creating job opportunities for the unemployed will have a more substantial impact on families than across-the-board increases in wages for state employees. Mohieldin, now senior vice president at the World Bank, says the state should provide the land for these projects and treat them like freezones. He says investors who are looking to expand right now will not be deterred by prevailing interest rates and those who want to start new businesses are keeping an eye on the projected path of prices and interest rates in the future. Now, the government has a duty to provide cash or commodity subsidies to the least well-off, he says, praising the Takaful and Karama programs. Mohieldin also praised the expansion in road networks nationally. The state could also embark on a universal health insurance scheme and, like the case of Thailand, could have it implemented relatively quickly. He would also like to see a more decentralised tax collection system that gives governorates the authority to collect some of the taxes rather than the central government.