Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population and Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Discuss the Budget for the Health Sector for the Fiscal Year 2025/2026

Dr. Rania Al-Mashat: We are moving forward to enhance the efficiency and governance of public investments and provide space for the private sector.

 

45% of government investments in the 2025/2026 plan are directed towards human development. The health sector is a priority for achieving comprehensive development

 

H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, received H.E. Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister for Human Development and Minister of Health and Population, at the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation in the new administrative capital, as part of ongoing meetings with ministries and national entities to discuss the health sector investment budget for fiscal year 2025/2026.

 

The meeting discussed the budget for the health sector within the economic and social development plan for fiscal year 2025/2026, in light of the new methodology for preparing the plan, Egypt's Vision 2030, the government's work program until 2027, the national structural reforms program, sectoral strategies and plans, and the state ownership policy document.

 

At the beginning of the meeting, Al-Mashat welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister for Human Development, emphasizing that human development remains a priority for the government's efforts to achieve comprehensive economic development, noted that the health sector is one of the key sectors to upgrade the Egyptian citizen and improve the quality of services provided to him. Therefore, the draft economic development plan for the next fiscal year allocates approximately 45% of total government investments  in the draft plan to the various human development sectors, compared to 35% for industrial development and infrastructure, and 19.7% for governorates and local development.

 

H.E. also emphasized that the health sector is a priority for any comprehensive development policy due to its direct link to citizens and its impact on their lives and productivity. Thus, the government is working to improve access to healthcare services and implement the comprehensive health insurance project.

 

Al-Mashat affirmed that the government is determined to move forward in enhancing development efforts, taking into account the continued governance of public investments and adhering to the investment spending ceiling for the next fiscal year, in order to achieve economic growth led by the private sector, allowing local and foreign investments to participate in development efforts, as well as enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of public investments and directing them to priority sectors.

 

Al-Mashat also addressed the integrated methodology for preparing the plan, explaining that it includes defining the role of each ministry in implementing Egypt's Vision 2030, the government's work program, and relevant sectoral strategies, along with analyzing the current status of the investment projects of each ministry, as well as studying presidential mandates, national projects and ongoing protocols related to each ministry.

 

H.E. added that the methodology for preparing the plan also includes providing a set of planning tools that help each ministry improve the quality of the planning process, setting a proposed vision for the investment plan priorities and associated supporting measures that each ministry can rely on in preparing its plan, as well as analyzing the implementation mechanisms that each ministry relies on to achieve the relevant development goals, and identifying the gap in performance indicators in each mechanism.

 

Additionally, she highlighted the guide for preparing the General Plan for Economic and Social Development, which enhances the shift from focusing on project quality to policy quality, ensuring that achievement of the objectives of strategies and policies and aligning them with performance indicators and programs, and setting criteria for evaluating feasibility studies, explaining that a workshop was organized to enhance the capabilities of planning officials in the ministries in this regard.

 

Furthermore, the Minster stated that the spatial information infrastructure system enhances the effectiveness of monitoring the development of investment plan projects periodically, detecting irregularities using satellite imagery, and enabling each ministry to continuously follow up on its ongoing projects, emphasizing the government's keenness to achieve integration and coordination between national and sectoral strategies and plans.

 

The meeting was attended by Dr. Mohamed El Tayeb, Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Anwar Ismail, Assistant Minister of Health for Projects Affairs, Dr. Amr Rashid, Chairman of the Egyptian Ambulance Authority, Dr. Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Permanent Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Rasha El Sharkawy, Head of the Central Department of Strategic Management, and Ms. Heba Abdel Moneim, Supervisor of Human and Social Development Sector at the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation.

 

It is noteworthy that the analysis of the investment plan for the Ministry of Health and Population for the current year 2025/2024 includes directing public investments (government, economic authorities, companies) to all entities affiliated to the ministry amounting to approximately EGP 31.126 billion, including governmental investments of EGP 28.5 billion directed to 577 sub-projects, including 68 projects expected to be completed during the year 2025/24.