In an extensive meeting with Governors and their Deputies at the Ministry of Local Development, H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, reviews the executive measures for the governance of investment expenditure within the developmental plans across governorates for the fiscal year 2024/2025.

●      Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation: Intensive coordination and monitoring with governorates to regulate investment expenditure during the current fiscal year to achieve macroeconomic stability.

●      Financial equation for governorates respects the specificity of each governorate to ensure fair distribution of investments.

●       Formation of task forces comprising representatives from the Ministry and relevant ministries to review allocations of all ministries and entities and identify the most urgent priorities.

●      Governance measures for investment expenditure provide room for the private sector to inject more investments.

 

H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, participated in the extensive meeting organized by the Ministry of Local Development with Governors and their Deputies to review government plans and efforts for governance and efficiency enhancement of investment expenditure, in line with the Prime Minister's decision to set a public investment ceiling for the current fiscal year at one trillion pounds, as part of state efforts to pave the way for the private sector, in addition to reviewing the initiatives the Ministry aims to implement across various governorates of the Republic, in the presence of Dr. Manal Awad, Minister of Local Development.

 

This meeting comes in light of directives from the Prime Minister to hold meetings between ministries and governors to acquaint them with developmental projects, various programs being implemented in the governorates, and investment plans. The Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation had previously presented these measures during her session in the House of Representatives and the first cabinet meeting.

 

During the meeting, the Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation reviewed the governance plan for investment expenditure of governorate plans for the fiscal year 2024/2025, highlighting the decision of the Prime Minister regarding the formation of a committee for overall public investment governance in the state, and the decision of the Central Auditing Organization to form the technical secretariat for that committee under the chairmanship of the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, as part of efforts to govern and enhance the efficiency of investment expenditure.

 

Al-Mashat affirmed that the Ministry has already initiated executive measures to activate governance of investment expenditure and increase private sector investments, ensuring compliance with the specified investment ceiling, applying to all relevant bodies including economic entities, state-owned companies, and wholly state-owned companies.

 

H.E. Minister Al- Mashat confirmed that several measures have been taken, including the formation of task forces comprising representatives from the Ministry and relevant ministries to review allocations of all ministries and entities, alongside coordination with various ministries to list their affiliated companies and provide the Ministry of Planning with data on targeted investments, ensuring compliance with the public investment ceiling, noting the development of general treasury investments by 314% over ten years between the fiscal year 2014/2015 and the fiscal year 2024/2025, in addition to investments in the second phase of the "Hayah Karima" presidential initiative.

 

The Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation also highlighted the Ministry's role in developing the financial equation for governorates, serving as an independent mechanism to ensure fair distribution of investments across governorates, reviewing the application of this equation across all governorates of the Republic, comparing previous fiscal years with the current fiscal year, taking into account each governorate's specificity and Human Development Index and the investments it received in recent years.

 

H.E. Minister Al-Mashat reviewed the ranking of Republic governorates according to the Human Development Index, noting that South Sinai Governorate ranked first in the index, followed by Port Said, Cairo, Red Sea, Suez, and Alexandria Governorates, also referring to the share of governorates in the Gross Domestic Product, where Cairo Governorate ranked first, followed by Giza, Alexandria, Qaliobia, and Sharqia Governorates.

 

H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat referred to the competitiveness index, indicating that it depends on several pillars, including institutional base, infrastructure, information and communication technology, economic stability, health, skills, product market, labor market, financial system, market size, business dynamics, and innovation capacity.

 

During the meeting, the Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation referred to developed programs for governorates, including the Economic Development Program, the Local and Community Services Support Program, the Roads, Transport, and Communications Program, the Environmental Improvement Program, the Urban and Rural Development Program, and the Local Administration and Technical Support Program, highlighting the key features of the investment plan for the current fiscal year, including a number of projects for paving, lighting, enhancing parking efficiency, establishing markets, and completing slaughterhouses, in addition to the National Solid Waste Management Program and the 100 Million Trees Initiative, and the development of the traffic system, as well as the "Hayah Karima" projects.