This situation explains also the increasing role of the informal sector as one of the major job providers in the region. Nasser (2011) estimates that informal employment reached 10.8 million in Egypt in 2008, representing 48.1 per cent of total employment. Between 1999 and 2004, the rate of growth of this index in the region was of 0.42 per cent per year, which represents a level comparable to that of Europe and Central Asia. Undeclared high levels of production increased the issues of revenue collection for non-oil countries and enhanced fiscal resource losses.