Egypt’s Ministry of Planning discusses mechanisms for developing public expenditure management with World Bank

The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, represented by Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development Follow-up Affairs, held a video conference workshop on developing public spending management mechanisms at the local level, with the participation of experts from the World Bank.


Helmy stressed the state's interest in adopting and implementing best practices in the field of planning, follow-up, and performance evaluation.

Helmy also reviewed steps that have been taken in this regard, including the implementation of the program and performance budget in about 30 ministries and their affiliated agencies and service directorates in the governorates
These steps also included the launch of the "Ad’aa” (performance) system, to improve public spending priorities and raise the efficiency of services provided to citizens, as well as issuing a report entitled "Harvesting the Construction Phase", intending to activate the subsequent follow-up by ensuring that the completed projects start entering the service, and citizens benefit from them directly.
Helmy added that the Ministry of Planning is always interested in enhancing the capabilities of planning and follow-up officials in all governorates, by organizing many specialized training courses.

It also issued a "Citizen's Investment Plan" in all Egypt’s governorates, for the third year in a row, which includes basic information and indicators for the 27 governorates, and the sectoral distribution of investment projects in them, which contributes to the localization of sustainable development goals at the governorate level.
 Helmy further highlighted that the ministry of planning also issues the “Citizen Follow-up in the Governorates" reports, which include completed projects in all Egypt’s governorates at the level of all sectors.


He added that the Ministry of Planning attaches great importance to activating community participation and involving citizens in the planning and follow-up process.“The mobile application dubbed "Sharek 2030" or "Participate 2030" was launched, as the first interactive electronic application, allowing citizens to suggest priority projects and initiatives,” Helmy said.
The Assistant Minister of Planning stressed that these steps led to creating a stimulating environment to take more serious and ambitious actions to encourage governorates to adopt best practices in the field of planning, follow-up, performance evaluation, and public expenditure management in partnership with the Ministry of Local Development and the World Bank.


 On his part, Dr. Mohamed Nada, Senior Expert in Urban Development at the World Bank, reviewed international experiences in the field of public spending development at the local level.
He referred to the importance of the Ministry of Planning’s current orientation towards providing incentives to governorates in the form of additional investments, based on a set of criteria and performance indicators.