The Minister of Planning and Economic Development discusses the draft sustainable development plan 2022-2023 before the Senate Financial and Economic Affairs Committee

H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, discussed on Monday the features of the investment plan for the fiscal year 2022-2023 during the meeting of the Senate Financial and Economic Affairs Committee, in the presence of Dr. Hani Sarie El-Din, Chairman of the Committee and members of the Committee, Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and several ministry leaders.During the meeting, Dr. Hala El-Said said that the plan for the next fiscal year has formulated its directions, objectives, and development programs in coordination and cooperation with all ministries, agencies, and relevant authorities, and through dialogue and a participatory approach that the government is always keen on setting out various development plans and programs.
 This is done based on indicators of the performance of the Egyptian economy during the second half of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, and visions about the expected repercussions of global crises and current geopolitical events.
The Minister of Planning and Economic Development indicated that as a result of the current global conditions, international institutions and international credit rating agencies expected a decline in the growth rate of the global economy from 5.9% in 2021 to 4.4% in 2022, and some estimates to 3.6%, and then to 3.2% in 2023.
He also expected the global inflation rate to rise to 6.2% in 2022 after it was limited to 4.4% in 2021, and only 2.8% in 2020.
  The unemployment rate is also expected to rise to 8% in 2022.
Dr. Hala El-Said stressed the keenness of the next year's plan to take into account the consequences of global developments, highlighting the importance of the proactive steps taken by the Egyptian government to confront the lack of international supplies of basic commodities, contain inflation, and allocate the necessary funds to support the most affected social groups.
The plan is based on three main objectives: building the Egyptian person, improving the citizen's quality of life, activating the national structural reform program, and strengthening the international competitiveness of the Egyptian economy.
El-Said continued that the goal of building the human being is achieved through the achievement of integrated rural development within the framework of a decent life initiative, the phased implementation of the comprehensive health insurance system, the technological development of the education system, the upgrading of basic services for citizens, the economic empowerment of gender, and the provision of equal opportunities for all.
 El-Said pointed out that the National Structural Reform Program (NSRP) focuses on developing the sectors of agriculture, industry, communications, and information technology, explaining that strengthening the international competitiveness of the Egyptian economy is done by strengthening the pillars of the knowledge economy, the digital economy, and moving towards a green economy.
The Minister of Planning stressed the plan's interest in highlighting the drivers of growth, and recent trends whose importance emphasized the consequences of the continuing Coronavirus pandemic, and the current geopolitical events.
 El-Said pointed to the most prominent directions adopted by the plan, which included the strategic direction toward developing Egyptian villages, managing their needs in terms of infrastructure and services, and creating ways to improve income and a decent standard of living for rural people within the framework of the initiative for a decent life, as well as the effective implementation of the presidential initiative to improve the well-being of the Egyptians. and improving the living conditions of the Egyptian family.El-Said added that the most prominent directions of the 2022/2023 plan also included careful follow-up of the executive programs of the Egyptian Family Development Plan, which is based on controlling population growth and improving the characteristics of the population within the framework of the state's efforts to improve the quality of life for citizens.
El-Said continued talking about the most prominent directions of the next fiscal year plan, pointing to the adoption of the export orientation strategy by exploiting promising export potentials and opportunities in the fields of agriculture, industry, tourism, real estate, service, and financial activities, while working on rationalizing import operations by expanding the substitution of local product, and increasing the proportion of imports of the total manufacturing requirements to maximize the added value.

 Moreover, the aforementioned directions included encouraging partnership projects with the government sector within the framework of the partnership system between the public and private sectors, and directing the state to support the private sector and provide the necessary environment for it to play its role in developing the economy, and the government's adoption of the state ownership document.