Written by Asma Amin
Friday, May 12, 2023 03:38 PM
Dr. Hala Al-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, said that the Egyptian government has taken short-term policies and urgent measures to mitigate the impact of crises, most notably raising the minimum wage, raising the minimum tax exemption and continuing to provide financial support to targeted families through ration cards, and support for price differences. Global for some goods and services, in addition to approving exceptional wage and pension bonuses.
She explained that the government has implemented medium-term plans to enhance the resilience of the economy, pointing to the launch of the National Program for Structural Reforms in 2021, which focuses on raising the productive and competitive capacity of the economy and enhancing its resilience, as the program addresses the root causes of imbalances in the real sector, by creating decent job opportunities, and diversifying business patterns. production and development, improving the business climate, localizing the industry, and enhancing the competitiveness of Egyptian exports.
This came during the participation of Dr. Hala Al-Saeed, Minister of Planning and Economic Development and Governor of Egypt at the Islamic Development Bank Group, in a dialogue with the bank’s governors entitled “Exemplary Partnership for Sustainable and Flexible Development: The Islamic Development Bank Group and the Arab Republic of Egypt”, as part of the activities of the annual meetings of the bank group. which will be held from May 10-13, in Jeddah; Under the slogan: “Establishing partnerships to prevent crises.”
The Minister of Planning during her participation in the annual meetings of the World Bank Group
During the meeting, El-Said reviewed the Egyptian economic and social reform plan to face global challenges such as the Corona pandemic and recent geopolitical crises, stressing that the world has been affected by the repercussions of Corona and then the current conflicts due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, supply chain disruptions and increased inflation rates, which affects global growth rates. Explaining that these challenges have a greater impact on developing countries, pointing out that Egypt is well aware that the prevailing situation requires revitalizing efforts to address bottlenecks and structural issues in the economy, stressing that crises always generate opportunities for countries to reshape a new and better reality for future generations.
Al-Said added that the program aims to increase the relative weight of the agricultural, industry and communications sectors, and that the cornerstone of the project is the axis of enhancing the effectiveness and flexibility of the labor market through the development of the technical and vocational education and training system, noting that when preparing the details and provisions of the national program for structural reforms Some quantitative targets were set to evaluate and document the achievements and results, as an increase of 20% was achieved in non-oil exports compared to the target growth of 15%, and 27% in the engineering and electronic industries.
El-Said referred to the government’s efforts to invest in infrastructure and implement large projects in the transportation, road network and energy sectors, in addition to the institutional and legislative reforms aimed at paving the way for the participation of the private sector so that it has a greater role in the Egyptian economy and contributes more to development efforts. Pointing to Egypt’s aspiration to increase the volume of foreign investments in the most attractive sectors such as renewable energy, water desalination, medical services, information and communication technology, and agricultural industries, as the government is keen to create an investment-friendly environment that encourages the business community to expand investment and production activities, thus maximizing exports and enhancing competitiveness in the markets. Globalism.
Participants in the annual meetings of the World Bank
In her answer to a question about Egypt’s vision of self-sufficiency in energy and electricity; The Minister of Planning said that the government is taking great steps to achieve self-sufficiency in energy by shifting towards a green and sustainable economy, and by preserving environmental and natural resources, pointing out that Egypt has made great progress in increasing the share of renewable energy from the energy mix in Egypt to 20% in in 2022, to reach 42% in 2035, through the implementation of huge projects, such as the Benban solar power plant in Aswan and the wind power plant in Jabal al-Zayt.
-She referred to the launch of the National Climate Change Strategy, the National Hydrogen Strategy to promote the use of blue and green hydrogen, and the launch of the Environmental Sustainability Standards Guide to integrate sustainable development standards into national plans, stressing that all of these measures were reflected in Egypt’s hosting of the COP27 Climate Change Conference last February in Sharm El-Sheikh with the aim of ensuring implementation of the green transition.
-El-Said drew attention to the launch of the national initiative for smart green projects under the auspices of the President, to focus on the importance of addressing climate action and biodiversity through technological empowerment as part of the ongoing efforts for sustainable development in Egypt, pointing to the launch of a decent life initiative for Africa resilient to climate changes that aims to Improving the quality of life in 30% of the most vulnerable African villages by 2030 in a climate-friendly manner, and the Friends of Greening National Investment Plans initiative in Africa and developing countries, which aims to increase the share of green projects in national investment plans.
The Minister of Planning explains Egypt’s vision to get out of the economic crises
Regarding the cooperation between Egypt and the Islamic Bank Group, El-Said said that the cooperation between the two sides resulted in many successful projects, and that there is continuous cooperation in the field of training and capacity-building provided by the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation and the various member institutions of the Bank Group.
With regard to the “Aftias” program for trade assistance for Arab countries, “Al-Said” explained that it aims to promote women’s entrepreneurship in Egypt, and comes within the framework of taking into account the social dimension and in light of empowering women with their contributions to trade, noting the readiness to launch the second phase of the program. “Iftias 2” aims to rehabilitate medium and small enterprises owned or run by women in the handicrafts and agro-food sectors.
Al-Saeed stressed the importance of focusing on establishing regional value chains within emerging markets in order to make the most of the comparative advantages enjoyed by each country, pointing to the challenges facing Arab and African countries, and in order to confront them, cooperation between those countries must be achieved through The efforts of specialized regional institutions, such as ITFC, who can skillfully design and successfully implement trade promotion and development initiatives that bring together Arab and African countries.
And she added that Egypt is the largest market in the Middle East and North Africa region, so it is seen as a major gateway to the African market, as it has become an increasingly popular destination for companies near the coast to outsource their commercial services, and it is expected that Africa’s push for regional integration through the trade area African continental freedom will create new opportunities for businesses, facilitate travel across the continent and beyond, encourage diversification away from Africa’s traditional commodity exports and avoid the price volatility that has affected the economies of many of our countries.
on social protection programs in Egypt; Al-Said explained that during the Corona crisis, a stimulus package (2% of GDP) was provided to mitigate the economic impact of the epidemic, noting the Central Bank’s decision to take protective measures to provide liquidity and contain inflation, and to approve a package of financial and social protection measures, and to allocate About EGP 2.7 billion to include 450,000 new families as beneficiaries of the “Takaful and Karama” cash transfer program, pointing to the decent life initiative that aims to improve the rate of availability of basic services (sanitation, education, health, youth, sports, natural gas, and fiber-optic networks) in First stage villages from 30% to 90%.
On benefiting from the partnership between Egypt and the Bank Group, El-Said explained that the constructive cooperation between Egypt and the Islamic Development Bank has created continuous developing relations between the two parties in various fields of development, and cooperation between Egypt and all member institutions of the Islamic Development Bank Group covers various fields.
Al-Said indicated that the Egyptian government put forward a state ownership policy document that confirms the state’s keenness to make way for the private sector to participate effectively, pointing to the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, which is the investment arm of the state and the ideal investment partner for the private sector, explaining that there are many mechanisms for partnership with the fund through Its sub-funds are in the fields of infrastructure, utilities, tourism, health care, medicine, financial services, and so on, pointing out that the fund is actively participating in renewable energy projects.
The Minister of Planning indicated that the Egyptian government has taken short-term policies and urgent measures to mitigate the impact of crises, pointing to raising the minimum wage, raising the minimum tax exemption, continuing to provide financial support to targeted families through ration cards, and supporting the difference in international prices for some goods and services. In addition to approving exceptional allowances in wages and pensions, explaining that the government has implemented medium-term plans to enhance the resilience of the economy, noting the launch of the National Program for Structural Reforms in 2021, which focuses on raising the productive and competitive capacity of the economy and enhancing its flexibility, as the program addresses the root causes of imbalances in the sector. Real, by creating decent job opportunities, diversifying and developing production patterns, improving the business climate, localizing the industry, and enhancing the competitiveness of Egyptian exports.
