Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development reviews a plan of 100 measures to stimulate the industrial sector and develop its exports

Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development reviewed a plan of 100 measures to stimulate the industrial sector and develop its exports within the structural reforms of the Egyptian economy during the meeting of the Industry Committee in the House of Representatives.The meeting was attended by Eng. Moataz Mahmoud, Chairman of the Industry Committee in the Parliament, Member of Parliament (MP)  Muhammad al-Sallab, Deputy Committee, MP Shehata Abu Zaid, Secretary of the Committee, Dr. Muhammad Abdullah, Secretary of the Industry Committee, and members of the Committee.During the meeting, Dr. Hala El-Said discussed the development of the relative importance of the industrial sector in the Egyptian economy, as the government works, within the framework of its efforts to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development.Concerning indicators of the industrial sector, El-Said explained that the Egyptian economy achieved in the first quarter of this year 21/2022 the highest growth rate in two decades, reaching 9.8%, which raised the expected growth rate at the end of the year from 5.5 to 5.7%. The growth rate of the manufacturing sector (according to preliminary indicators) during the quarter achieved 15.2%, which is the fourth sector in the growth rate after hotels and restaurants, the Suez Canal, and communications) compared to a contraction of 12.7% in the corresponding quarter of the previous year as a result of the repercussions of the Corona pandemic.El-Said added that the manufacturing sector came as the largest contributor to the GDP in the first quarter of the year at 15.3 percent, with an average contribution of 15.8 percent in the last seven years (since 2015/14). El-Said explained that the contribution of the manufacturing sector to employment (in the first quarter of this year) amounted to about 12.2%, with about 3.310 million workers (3.049 males + 260,000 females), and it came in third place in the relative importance of employment after agriculture and wholesale trade. The average annual contribution rate of the sector to the operation since 2014 is about 12%.

El-Said shed light on the state's plans and procedures to advance the industrial sector, as the state has drawn up plans and programs to advance the industrial sector, including the National Structural Reform Program launched last April.The program aims to transform the Egyptian economy into a productive, knowledge-based, and competitive economy in the global economy, to encourage inclusive growth and create decent and productive job opportunities.El-Said explained that the program was developed through continuous partnership and dialogue with the private sector and experts, and implementation is currently being followed up through cooperation and coordination between all concerned parties and in partnership with the private sector.El-Said added that the program includes 6 pillars, the main one deals with restructuring the Egyptian economy to diversify the production structure by focusing on the sectors of the real economy. At the forefront of these sectors is the industrial sector to the agricultural sector - the communications and information technology sector, in parallel with supporting service sectors that complement and support the productive sectors, the most important of which is the logistics sector.El-Said referred to the strategic objectives of the manufacturing sector, which are to raise investment rates in the manufacturing sector in a sustainable manner, increase its share of the domestic product, localize and deepen the industry, grow local supply chains, and deepen interrelationships, in addition to raising the international competitiveness of manufacturing industries, and the advancement of industrial exports.El-Said added that to achieve these strategic goals, many quantitative targets were set, the most important of which are: increasing the industry’s contribution to the GDP from 11.7% in 2020 to 15% in 2024, increasing the share of industrial exports with a high technological component of total industrial exports from (3% in 2019) by no less than 20% annually, increasing the share of industrial exports with a medium technological component of total industrial exports (31% in 2019) by at least 10% annually.This is in addition to an increase in the percentage of workers in the sector from 12.5% ​​in 2020 to from 18 to 20% in 2024 (from 400 to 460 thousand jobs annually), in addition to an increase in the share of small and medium enterprises from the total number of employees from 51% in 2020 to 60% in 2024.El-Said explained that to achieve these goals, several measures have been settled, including measures that the state has already started to implement within the plan of the Ministry of Trade and Industry for 100 measures to stimulate the industrial sector and develop its exports.


El-Said added that one of the important axes directly related to the development of the industry is the axis of raising the efficiency and flexibility of the labor market and developing the system of technical education and vocational training.El-Said noted that many measures were identified to achieve this, and their implementation is being pursued in coordination with the Ministry of Education and other concerned parties, including The establishment of the Egyptian National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Technical, Technical and Vocational Education and Training, and the transformation of all study programs into programs built according to the methodology of professional competencies.The procedures also deal with the establishment of sectoral competency centers in selected schools of applied technology schools in cooperation with the private sector, the development of the infrastructure for technical education schools, and the increase in the number of technical education schools in line with the industrial zones and national projects.In this context, El-Said clarified that the state is working to expand the establishment of technical schools and universities, as the number of applied technology schools has been increased from 11 to 16 schools in all governorates of the Republic, and the establishment and operation of three technological universities (New Cairo - Delta in Quesna - Beni Suef), targeting This year’s plan is 21/2022 to establish (6) new technological universities (Al-Salam City in East Port Said/6 October/ Borg El Arab/ New Assiut/ Samanoud in Gharbia/ Taiba in New Luxor) at an estimated cost of EGP 3 billion.About the executive plan to double Egyptian exports to Africa by 2025, El-Said indicated that a committee was formed according to Prime Minister Decision No. 263 of 2021 to develop an action plan for a comprehensive strategy aimed at doubling Egypt's exports to African countries by 2025.El-Said added that the plan includes a detailed analysis of the features of the current situation of Egyptian exports to Africa, the nature of the competitive environment in African markets, and the axes of action represented in: Communication: providing land and sea transportation and activating trade agreements, in addition to technical and financial support for importing countries.The challenges and opportunities available to increase Egyptian exports to Africa were also identified, with target markets and commodities to focus on.
 El-Said indicated that the plan will be implemented over three years, starting from 2022, to increase exports to Africa by $10 billion by 2025 (from $5 billion currently to $15 billion in 2025).
Implementation begins in the first year with a target of a $2 billion increase in 10 African countries selected according to specific criteria.