Abul Enein: We Must Turn Coronavirus Ordeal into Opportunity, Prepare for Future

Muhammad Abul Enein, member of the House of Representatives (HoR), praised the successful state administration of the crisis of the Coronavirus.

Abul Enein pointed out that the political leadership and the government made enormous efforts as they took proactive measures according to a clear vision and strategy to stem the Coronavirus.

The measures aim to reduce the repercussions of the deadly virus. It spared Egypt and its people catastrophic risks, both at the human or economic level meanwhile major countries in the world are suffering badly.

Abul Enein revealed that the government made a package of social or economic decisions that helped the Egyptians to face the consequences of Coronavirus and supported the local market to cope with the crisis.

Abul Enein added in his speech before the plenary session of the HoR, chaired by Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, Speaker of the Council, that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi directed concerned officials to allocate a package of a stimulus of EGP 100 billion which represents 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in order to support the health sector and secure the country's basic needs of food, medicine, fuel and support companies and inpiduals affected by the crisis.

The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank also introduced an expansionary fiscal and monetary package in order to stimulate the economy and ensure the continuity of economic activity and the preservation of employment.

Abul Enein supported the Ministry of Finance's request to open an additional credit of EGP 10 billion because it contributes to pushing the wheel of production and economic activity.

This credit will be directed to the contracting sector and the payment of dues of contractors and suppliers with which 90 industries are linked, enabling the sector to fulfill its obligations and pay labor wages.

The famous businessman pointed out that the whole world is facing exceptional and unprecedented conditions that have grave repercussions on the global economy, adding that the economic reforms and proactive steps taken by the political leadership, the Egyptian economy is standing firm.

The international economic institutions such as Standard and Poor's, as the IMF have praised Egypt's performance. Experts of these institutions said that Egypt is one of the very few countries in the region that would achieve a positive growth rate this year, while the global economy and the other economies of the Middle East region will shrink by a negative rate of 3% at least.

The famous businessman further said that the crisis of the Coronavirus created many opportunities, and we must turn this ordeal into an opportunity and take its advantages.

He inquired what the state has prepared for the world after Coronavirus? And how the state policy plans not only to reduce harm and preserve the status quo, but to take advantage of the opportunities created by the crisis.

He noted that the Coronavirus will lead to changing in the global system and changing the form of globalization, the focus will increase on national priorities, settling development and industries within each country, seeking self-sufficiency and deepening industrialization in each country.

He affirmed that competition will increase to attract investors between countries, explaining that the Corona crisis has raised awareness of the danger of the global economy relying on a single source in basic goods and services and intermediate goods, and that these sources must be persified, which grants Egypt a great opportunity to attract a part of the global supply chains to settle in her.

This will maximize the benefit from Egypt's great advantages such as the persified economy, educated youth, privileged location, advanced infrastructure, and a large domestic and external market.

The member of HoR called his colleagues in the parliament to review Egypt's competitiveness in the investment market, take quick decisions to reduce production and investment costs, adopt a set of new marketing and media policies and offer ready investment opportunities on global investment with feasibility studies, prior approvals and unconventional incentives, and activate the incentives mentioned in the investment law; these will lead to a boom in investment, especially in new industries with high added value and fourth industrial revolution technologies.

The member of HoR stressed the importance of localizing the industry and deepening industrial production and that the state ought to lay out a plan to replace imports in the intermediate products that will open huge opportunities for existing small industries and to establish thousands of new small industries working side by side as feeder and complementary industries with large industries, providing millions of productive job opportunities. This in turn will increase the competitiveness of the Egyptian industry.

The member of HoR praised the Ministry of Planning's handling of the changing repercussions of the Corona crisis, adding that Dr. Hala Al-Saeed, Minister of Planning, has developed three scenarios to deal with the repercussions of the crisis; it is a new idea for Egypt to have more than one scenario to deal with future event.

The famous businessman pointed out that the whole world will change and a new world order will be formed. Each country will search for its opportunity first, and therefore we are facing a major challenge and we must market for ourselves to be the best place for us on the map of the new global economy.