Egypt exits 62 economic activities to leave room for private sector: Finance Minister

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Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait has affirmed that the global crises have proven the validity of the Egyptian vision in launching development projects, which contributes to maximizing production and export capabilities.

Maait said, during an open dialogue with professors and students of Misr University for Science and Technology: “The state ownership political document approved recently by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi opens up broad horizons for the participation of the private sector in achieving growth based on production and export, as the state exits from 62 economic activities to create promising and diverse opportunities to empower the private sector, in line with the efforts of a supportive environment to local and foreign investments in a way that contributes to enhancing the economic wheel and providing sufficient financial space to expand the umbrella of social protection for vulnerable groups that top presidential priorities in light of global crises.

He added: “We must plant and manufacture … produce and export … and rediscover promising opportunities, and this is what the government is working on in its various agencies, in implementation of the directives of the political leadership, in a way that was reflected in the keenness to reduce burdens on production units in various sectors.”

“We built a strong and developed infrastructure that is more capable of absorbing production expansions,” explaining that our exports of natural gas, which amounted to $600m per month, helped us a lot in paying a large part of the oil import bill, in light of the high price per barrel to unprecedented global rates.”

He pointed out that the government is betting during the next stage on a greater role for the private sector in enhancing our ability to continue sustainable economic growth, and to recover from complex and recurrent global crises, starting from the Coronavirus pandemic, to the negative repercussions of the war in Europe and the burdens of facing the effects of climate change, which poses unprecedented challenges on various countries, especially emerging economies and developing countries, that suffer from an increase in fuel and food prices and the high cost of financing in international markets.

Maait said: “We are committed to meeting the basic needs of citizens and working to mitigate the unprecedented international wave of inflation in light of the exceptional reality witnessed by the global economy.”

He explained that the Egyptian economy has become more resilient in facing the most difficult global fluctuations in decades, with more diverse and comprehensive sectors and development projects that have a greater impact on the lives of citizens, including Hayah Karima, the largest social and economic project in the history of Egypt that contributes to developing the countryside and improving the quality of life for more than half of the Egyptians, improving the services provided to them, and creating productive job opportunities in a way that helps in the fair distribution of the fruits of comprehensive and sustainable development.

He added that the new draft budget for the fiscal year 2023/2024 focuses on enhancing aspects of spending on human development, with its axes health and education, completing the process of human building, and social development with a higher targeting of the neediest segments in various governorates, and economic development also by enhancing industrialization opportunities, deepening the local component, and encouraging export with exploitation. Optimization of the promising opportunities offered by the green transition for more sustainable growth, in a way that makes the country more able to deal positively and flexibly with the effects of external and internal challenges resulting from the current severe global shocks, explaining that we aim to achieve a sustainable primary surplus of 2% of GDP and to decrease debt and budget deficit, recording a growth rate of 5.5%, which contributes to achieving economic goals, meeting the developmental needs of citizens, and reducing unemployment rates.

He pointed out that we are continuing to implement the recommendations of the Economic Conference and the Climate Summit, in a way that enables us to lay the foundations for a more sustainable and competitive economy that has greater capabilities to overcome global challenges, create opportunities for growth and progress, and achieve high growth rates rich in jobs, pointing out that we have competitive advantages in the field of green economy, and promising projects in energy generation from renewable and clean sources.