Minister of Planning Discusses 2024/2025 Economic Development Plan with Senate Committee

H.E.Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, discussed on Tuesday the draft law for the economic and social development plan for the fiscal year 2024/2025 during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Financial, Economic Affairs, and Investment. The meeting was chaired by Hani Sir El-Din, and attended by Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and Economic Development, along with committee members.

In her speech, Dr. Hala El-Said outlined the key features of the new fiscal year’s plan, highlighting its main pillars, which include constitutional entitlements, Egypt’s Vision 2030, the National Program for Structural Reforms, the General Planning Law of the State, the National Human Rights Strategy, and the State Ownership Policy Document. She explained that the guiding principles of the plan, derived from Egypt’s Vision 2030, encompass four main tenets: placing human beings at the center of development by improving the living standards of all social groups, providing quality education and training to prepare for future jobs that rely on scientific research and innovation, ensuring compatible health insurance, and achieving justice and accessibility.

El-Said stated that the plan’s parameters focus on human development projects (health, education), the updated Egypt Vision 2030 entitlements, ensuring the necessary investments for projects expected to be completed, prioritizing projects with more than 70% completion, considering the economic conditions affecting the cost of public investment, excluding new projects that have not yet started, and allowing private sector participation in light of the State Ownership Policy Document.

Regarding the priority developmental goals within the updated Egypt Vision 2030 framework, the Minister of Planning clarified that they include enhancing the availability of healthcare services, improving the education system, enriching cultural and sports life, ensuring water and food security, promoting local manufacturing, providing adequate housing, ensuring safe and sustainable transportation systems, building a knowledge-based economy, enhancing local and spatial development, transitioning to a green economy, ensuring human rights, and fostering inclusion and equal opportunities.

Dr. Hala El-Said emphasized that evidence-based policy preparation relies on planning tools, including the Human Development Index at the governorate level, the Competitiveness Index of Egyptian Governorates, the Birth and Death System, income and expenditure surveys, the Environmental Sustainability Index, and indicators for localizing sustainable development goals. These tools also include the Human Capital Index (World Bank), the Human Development Index (UNDP), the Global Sustainable Development Report (University of Cambridge), and international competitiveness indices at the global economic level (World Economic Forum).

El-Said pointed out the role of spatial signature in improving the local planning system, which analyzes supply and demand, the link and integration between plan projects, the similarities between past and present projects, and determining the optimal location for projects.

Regarding the inventory of investment assets, Dr. Hala El-Said explained that the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development has made significant efforts in asset inventory. For the first time, there is a comprehensive system for asset inventory within the framework of preparing and monitoring the investment plan. Government entities’ project proposals include all investment assets related to these projects, ensuring efficiency and rationalizing public investment expenditure, and allocating necessary maintenance to preserve the assets.