The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development holds 3rd workshop on consultations to analyze the results of the fifth Egyptian economic census for the year 2017/2018

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, in cooperation with the Macroeconomic Reform and Stability Project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research “Baseera”, held the third consultancy workshop for analyzing the results of the fifth Egyptian economic census for the year 2017/2018, entitled “Economic Activity and Public Policies.” The workshop was attended by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, and Dr. Maged Othman, CEO of the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research "Baseera", Dr. Ola Al-Khawaja, Senior Consultant of the Macroeconomic Reform and Stability Project, and Dr. Alia Al-Mahdi, Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Politics and Economics at Cairo University.Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, said during his speech that the workshop represents a model for activating the partnership between the government on the one hand and research agencies and development partners on the other hand in promoting policies in Egypt.During the workshop, Kamali stressed the government's keenness that policies stem from evidence that comes from valuable research presented by researchers, pointing to the importance of linking decision-makers with researchers. Kamali highlighted the importance of policies stemming from objective and quantitative studies that were able to produce documented and objective results, explaining that the workshop discussed topics related to important points in the Egyptian economy.

Kamali discussed the relationship between private enterprises, companies, and productivity, explaining that there is great interest in the world in the financial structure of companies and their impact on productivity.Kamali stressed the importance of looking into this matter in Egypt because of its important repercussions on monetary policies in Egypt. Kamali also stressed the need to look at policies that can raise productivity.Dr. Ahmed Kamali touched on how financial policies can help the private and business sectors in terms of increasing investments and productivity, explaining that few quantitative studies discuss this issue. Kamali pointed out that there are always demands for the government to reduce taxes and provide subsidies, but without considering the impact of this and whether it has a significant impact on value-added, profitability, and productivity. Kamali stressed the importance of providing quantitative studies to examine the impact of providing subsidies and reducing taxes on output, value-added, and investment.Kamali pointed to the business sector's demand for tax and other exemptions, explaining that reducing taxes has consequences for the government budget, stressing the need for a kind of balance between the business sector's demands to reduce taxes and the size of taxes.Regarding the determinants of choosing the informal sector, Kamali explained that the decision of the establishments to go to the formal sector at the beginning of their work is a very important choice. Kamali said that the productivity of enterprises in the informal sector is weak, according to international studies, which makes the transition to the formal sector difficult, adding that work must be done to improve the factors that lead to choosing the direction to the formal sector.Kamali discussed the relationship between human investment in the governorates and their economic performance, stressing the Egyptian government's interest in human investment through education and health.Dr. Ahmed Kamali also indicated that the governorates competitiveness index will soon be launched to determine the competitive position of each governorate, which leads to a kind of positive competition between governorates in improving their competitive position, which contributes to attracting investments.Meanwhile, Dr. Maged Othman, CEO of the Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research "Baseera", said that the project for analyzing the results of the economic census represents the first serious attempt to benefit from the censuses data analytically.