Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development meets Beata Javorcik, EBRD Chief Economist

H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, received Mrs. Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and her accompanying delegation, to discuss ways to enhance aspects of bilateral cooperation.

 The meeting was attended by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister, Ambassador Hazem Khairat, Director of International Relations at the Ministry, Ayman Soliman, Executive Director of The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE), Heike Harmgart, Managing Director of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region at the European Bank, Alexa Teman, Regional Economist, Rafik Selim, Economist.
During the meeting, Dr. Hala El-Said reviewed a number of the ministry's work files, and the work areas of the entities affiliated with the Ministry of Planning, which include the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMS), the Institute of National Planning (INP), and the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (NIGSD).
The internal units of the Ministry and the role of each of them were also reviewed, which are the Sustainable Development Unit, the Macroeconomic Unit, the National Accounts Unit, the Labor Market Unit, the Unused Assets Management Unit, and the Rowad 2030 Project.El-Said referred to the current economic situation in Egypt, as Egypt achieved an economic growth rate of 3.3% in 2021, 9% in the first half of the fiscal year 2021/202, and 8.3% in the second quarter of 2021/22.She further noted that the unemployment rate remains low at 7.4%.El-Said stressed that the Egyptian state was keen to increase public investments in the information and communications technology sector, and the volume of public investments during the past seven years in the field of digital transformation amounted to 72.4 billion Egyptian pounds, equivalent to 4.3 billion US dollars, an increase of 400% between the fiscal year 2020 /2019 and 2022/21.



El-Said indicated the Egyptian state's interest in enhancing the participation of the private sector in development efforts by developing infrastructure to encourage private investments. Public investments directed to the infrastructure sector during the past seven years amounted to about $150 billion.
The Egyptian state is also interested in enhancing the competitiveness of Egyptian exports, which have already achieved a record 45.2 billion US dollars in 2021, the highest in Egypt's history.
El-Said addressed the activation of the role of the business climate reform initiative "Irada", which aims to reform the legislative and regulatory framework to ensure business stimulation, in addition to launching a program of offerings in Egypt to list some state-owned companies in the stock exchange. to stimulate the capital markets.
On the transition to a green economy and green incentives, El-Said affirmed the Egyptian state's orientation towards a green economy, especially with its hosting of the Conference of the Parties to the upcoming United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP27).
 The state adopts environmental sustainability standards that aim for green projects to represent 30% of the state’s investment plan for the fiscal year 2021/2022 and 50% of the plan for 2024/2025, according to El-Said.

El-Said pointed out that Egypt came as the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to launch green bonds ($750 million), and the government also announced a tax incentive package to boost private investment in the green economy.


For her part, Mrs. Beata Javorcik presented her work at the Bank.

Javorcik indicated that she works as part of a research team to issue reports on the economies of some countries each year, including forecasts of economic performance and data analysis in the countries in which the Bank invests.


Javorcik noted that the bank also publishes a major publication called Transition Report which focuses each year on a specific issue of importance, and this year's issue was about digital transformation.
 It was agreed during the meeting to set up a mechanism for exchanging data and information and to make use of the technical reports issued by the two sides.