Planning Ministry, CBE discuss mechanisms for implementing "financial inclusion in 'Decent Life' initiative

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, represented by Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister of Planning for Follow-up Affairs of the Sustainable Development Plan, conducted a video-conference workshop, with representatives from the Central Bank of Egypt, to discuss mechanisms for implementing the “Financial Inclusion” initiative in the presidential initiative of “A Decent Life”.

At the outset, Helmy reviewed the efforts of the Ministry of Planning to integrate sustainable development, economic, social, and environmental dimensions into development plans, stressing the state’s interest in localizing the sustainable development goals at the governorate level, focusing on improving the level of services and citizens ’livelihood in the neediest rural communities.



Helmy added that 4 strategic objectives were set for the initiative, launched by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in January 2019, which are to improve infrastructure and urban services (sanitation, drinking water, electricity, roads ...), Human development (education, health ...), as well as improving the standard of living, investing in people, economic development and employment.

Helmy referred to the stages of development that the initiative has witnessed during the past two years, as the beginning was with 143 villages, which were increased to 375 villages in the first phase.




Helmy pointed out that the Ministry of Planning adopted the latest planning methods in preparing the initiative, by adopting an evidence-based planning methodology, using the databases provided by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics ((CAPMAS) (poverty rates, income, and expenditure survey).

This is to monitor the state of development in villages before implementing the interventions, then the next stage to follow up the implementation phases, to finalize them, ensure that they are operational and the citizens start to benefit from them, as well as focus on the development impact of these interventions.

Helmy explained that the initiative is witnessing a quantum leap at present, which is required by practice, by moving from the village stage to the center as a whole, pointing out that 51 centers have been identified, including 1500 villages, in implementation of the political leadership directives to complete the development of the villages of the Egyptian countryside within 3 years.

Regarding the criteria for selecting the targeted centers, the Assistant Minister of Planning pointed out that 9 sub-indicators have been established, which are population density to achieve the benefit of the largest number of citizens, average poverty rates in each center, illiteracy rate, coverage rate with sanitation and drinking water services, and the dependency rate for women.

For his part, Khaled Bassiouni, Director of the Financial Inclusion Unit at the Central Bank of Egypt, reviewed the goals and dimensions of financial inclusion, including the social, economic, and security dimensions.

Bassiouni emphasized the possibility of integrating financial inclusion projects within the “Decent Life” initiative, especially about saving and lending projects and merging small agricultural holdings, stressing the importance of the availability of basic infrastructure in the villages of “Decent Life”, in a way that allows feeding and securing ATMs.