H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, during her opening speech at the "Narrative PR Summit"

“We are working on formulating Egypt’s national narrative for economic development, transitioning towards a model based on tradable sectors to drive sustainable growth.”

Key Highlights from the Minister’s Remarks:

 

 The Egyptian government has taken serious strides in implementing its economic and structural reform agenda, enhancing fiscal sustainability and stimulating investment.

 Egypt recorded a 4.3% GDP growth in Q2 of the current fiscal year — the highest quarterly growth rate in over two years.

Non-petroleum manufacturing led the growth during H1 of the fiscal year, reflecting the impact of reform policies.

Macroeconomic stability is vital to attract investment, while ongoing structural reforms are necessary to build economic resilience.

Investment allocations in the FY25 Economic and Social Development Plan: 45% for human development, 35% for infrastructure and industrial development, and approximately 19% for local development in the governorates.

From 2020 to 2024, the private sector secured over $14.5 billion in concessional development financing from multilateral and bilateral partners.

Egypt is collaborating with the African Development Bank to replicate the successful "NWFE" program under a South-South cooperation framework.

The government remains committed to simplifying procedures, clarifying policies, and enhancing transparency to create a competitive investment climate.

Participation in the 9th Narrative PR Summit

H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat participated in the 9th edition of the Narrative PR Summit, held under the patronage of the Ministries of Planning, Economic Development, International Cooperation, Investment, Foreign Trade, and Sports. Also in attendance were Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, Minister of Youth and Sports; General Amr Hanafy, Governor of the Red Sea; businessman and former Minister of Transport Mohamed Mansour; and representatives of the private sector.

During her speech, H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat stated that the world has been witnessing escalating challenges since 2020, as crises continue to worsen year after year due to geopolitical tensions and economic shocks.

National Narrative for Economic Development

H.E. explained that the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation continues its efforts to formulate the national narrative for economic development, enabling the state to transition to a development model based on tradable sectors, driven by increased productivity and value-added exports, by focusing on priority sectors, mainly: attracting foreign direct investment, promoting industrial development, localizing industry, developing infrastructure, creating jobs, supporting entrepreneurship and innovation, expanding green projects, and improving the business environment to enable the private sector to play a greater role in development.

H.E. emphasized that achieving these goals would not be possible without providing the necessary financing. Therefore, the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation is working to promote financing for development by mobilizing domestic resources and stimulating innovative and blended financing tools. She noted that the ministry launched the "Integrated National Strategy for Financing Strategy" as the first national strategy of its kind, providing a comprehensive and integrated framework to mobilize domestic and international financing in support of sustainability. This is achieved by identifying financing gaps in priority sectors, developing a roadmap for innovative and sustainable development financing, focusing on increasing foreign direct investment, activating partnerships with the private sector, as well as implementing governance mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation.

Moreover, H.E. added that macroeconomic stability is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable development, and that structural reforms are essential to maintain and enhance this stability. Since March 2024, the government has taken serious steps to implement the economic and structural reform program, adjust financial and monetary policies, and launch significant incentives to expand the role of the private sector through a comprehensive package of policies and procedures that create a more competitive investment climate and open broader avenues for local and foreign investment.

H.E. affirmed that the Egyptian economy has many competitive advantages that qualify it to be among the most diverse economies in the region, based on the significant development witnessed in infrastructure over the past decade, which enhances the Egyptian economy's capacity for industrial expansion and consolidates its position as a regional hub for energy and the green economy. In this context, Egypt has taken a number of policies, including promoting partnership between the public and private sectors, launching the first voluntary carbon credit trading market for the private sector, and expanding green financing tools such as debt swaps, green bonds, and development financing. Egypt is characterized by its unique geographical location and abundant natural resources, as well as a young, innovative, and entrepreneurial human base.

GDP Development

Al-Mashat explained that one of the main pillars of the economic reforms implemented by the state is to control public investments by setting an annual ceiling of EGP 1 trillion, which contributes to curbing inflation and expanding the scope for the private sector to play a greater role in development efforts. These policies have been reflected in the performance of the economy, as the GDP recorded a growth of 4.3% during the second quarter of the current fiscal year—the highest quarterly growth rate in over two years—compared to 2.3% in the same quarter last year and 3.7% in the first quarter of this year. The most prominent feature of this growth is that it is driven by tradable productive sectors, as non-oil manufacturing industries achieved a remarkable growth of 17.7%, compared to a contraction of 11.56% in the corresponding period last year. The tourism sector recorded a growth of 18%, and the telecommunications and information technology sector grew by 10.4%, reflecting the shift towards structural transformation in the Egyptian economy.

She also added that alongside GDP indicators, private sector investments continued their positive growth in the second quarter of the current fiscal year, growing by 35.4% on a quarterly basis, while public investments contracted by 25.7% during the same period. This was supported by stringent governance of public investments and their allocation to priority sectors, which contributed to private investments accounting for more than 50% of total investments, compared to less than 40% for public investments. The government intends to continue strengthening macroeconomic stability through maintaining public financial discipline, rationalizing spending on infrastructure projects, and mobilizing domestic revenues by maximizing the use of state assets.

Focus on Human Development

Furthermore, H.E. added that public investments are being redirected towards human capital, with 45% of the investments in the economic and social development plan for the upcoming fiscal year allocated to human development, 35% to infrastructure and industrial development, and about 19% to local development in the governorates.

She noted that to maintain this stability, the government follows a continuous approach to structural reforms to build a more diverse, competitive, and attractive economy for investment by achieving three main pillars:

First: Enhancing macroeconomic resilience and stability. In this context, a large number of reforms have been implemented, including simplifying tax procedures for companies, issuing tax incentives for SMEs, enacting the Unified Public Finance Law to set an annual cap on general government debt, and preparing a guiding document for ministries to determine the criteria for evaluating public investment projects.

Second: Enhancing the competitiveness of the Egyptian economy and improving the business environment. In this area, the government has implemented several reforms, including canceling tax exemptions and fees for state entities, issuing the executive regulations of the Competition Law, issuing the law regulating state ownership in companies owned or contributed to by the state, issuing three guidelines on competitive neutrality, automating the investment licensing system to improve the business environment, and establishing the Egyptian Intellectual Property Authority (EIPA).

Third: Supporting the transition to a green economy. In this context, several measures have been implemented, including issuing a decision regarding the national monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system to establish a database on harmful gas emissions, adopting the revised sustainable energy strategy, issuing regulations for energy certificates of origin, and taking measures that enhance the contribution of the private sector to the production and sale of renewable energy.

She also added that recognizing the importance of empowering the private sector and motivating it to inject local and foreign investments, the government is working to build on the achievements made to create a more competitive investment climate, implement clear and transparent policies, overcome challenges for investors, and adopt policies that attract investments while continuing to simplify procedures and reduce burdens on investors.

Development Financing for the Private Sector

Regarding development finance and entrepreneurship support, Al-Mashat stated that in this context, the concessional development financing obtained by the private sector from multilateral and bilateral development partners between 2020 and 2024 exceeded $14.5 billion. Last year recorded the highest rate in 5 years, with concessional financing for the private sector reaching $4.2 billion, surpassing for the first time the concessional financing obtained by the government. Additionally, concessional development financing obtained by the private sector from development partners under the "NWFE" program will be used to implement 4.2 GW of renewable energy projects, reflecting the government's efforts to become a regional center for renewable energy.

In this regard, she pointed to efforts with the African Development Bank to launch an initiative to promote South-South cooperation to replicate the NWFE country platform model.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

H.E. noted that the government pays special attention to entrepreneurship as a key driver of the new economy. Therefore, the Ministerial Entrepreneurship Group – which I am honored to chair – was formed to work in an integrated manner with the various stakeholders in the innovation and entrepreneurship system to approve a number of incentives and initiatives that would open avenues for increasing investment in this field. In the coming period, the Ministerial Group for Entrepreneurship is working to finalize the "Startup Charter" to serve as a clear roadmap for policies that enhance the entrepreneurship environment by defining specific incentives, legal frameworks, and simplified procedures for startups, in addition to developing a proposal for a unified financing initiative to support startups, a unified definition for startups, and facilitations in terms of financial incentives, registration, and licenses that are currently being studied.