Egypt preparing expansionary investment plan to maintain gains of reform – minister
Egypt is currently preparing an expansionary investment plan to focus on promising sectors, maintain economic achievements, and provide job opportunities, Minister of Planning Hala El-Said said in a statement on Wednesday.
El-Said added that Egyptian achievements are due to the fruitful cooperation between the legislative and executive authorities, as well as the cooperation of the Egyptian people, Ahram Online reported.
She noted that the world will witness many variables because of the COVID-19 crunch, explaining that if the global financial crisis and the great depression led to a reduction in growth rates by five percent, the current expectations would tend to reduce global growth rates by seven percent.
Moreover, El-Said declared that there are expectations of decreases in the movement of trade and investment by at least 30 percent, with an increase in poverty and unemployment rates.
As of March 2020, unemployment rates in Egypt did not exceed 7.5 percent, which is a significant decrease compared to previous rates, she said, noting that it was expected before the pandemic that this year would end with growth rates of approximately six percent.
El-Said explained that the expectations of the country’s current development plans are in the context of ongoing coexistence with the pandemic in the future.
“Egypt is following two scenarios for growth rates, the first scenario expected that the pandemic is going to disappear at the end of June, and the other depends on its end in December 2020,” El Said stated.
She highlighted Egypt’s rise in the global knowledge index from 99 to 82, and its ranking 11th and first in Africa in the emerging technologies index.
El-Said indicated as well that in the context of these conditions and the uncertainties that Egypt faces, the country also confronts terrorism and is securing its regional and strategic borders.
As of Saturday, Egypt will relax the strict measures it had imposed to fight the COVID-19 crisis and its implications under the plan to coexist with the pandemic.
