Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that Egypt is targeting economic growth between 6-7% in the next three years, adding that the second phase of the structural reform program intends to reduce the total budget deficit to 5.5% by 2023/24.
Madbouly added, during a conference on Tuesday, that Egypt had already achieved an initial surplus of 2%, however, rates retreated due to the pandemic, yet, the government is aiming to achieve its GDP growth target of 6.7% over the next three years. Moreover, he affirmed that the government will continue to subsidize food supplies for the next three years.
On her part, Minister of Planning Hala El-Said announced the second phase of the structural reform program will contribute to increasing the resilience of the Egyptian economy and raise its ability to absorb external and internal shocks. This will include transforming the economy into a productive one with competitive advantages, which will push for more balanced and sustainable growth.
El-Said pointed out that the main axis of the reform program is based on increasing the relative weight of the manufacturing industries, agriculture, communications and IT sectors, pointing out that the three sectors contributed to about 26% of GDP in 2019/20, intended to reach between 30-35% by 2023/24.
El-Said pointed out that the expected structural reforms include raising the efficiency of the labor market, developing the technical education and vocational training system, improving the business environment, developing the role of the private sector, and raising the efficiency of public institutions through digital transformation and governance, in addition to enhancing financial inclusion and developing human capital.
6-axis repair
El-Said emphasized that the national program for structural reforms targets 6 reform axes, 32 policies, and 88 priority procedural and legislative structural reforms, with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) being localized at the level of all 27 governorates.
Industrial Sector
On the industrial sector, she pointed out that the goals of the sector is to raise investment rates in a sustainable manner, deepen and localize industry, grow local supply chains, more integration into global and regional value chains, in addition to increasing the international competitiveness of manufacturing industries and promoting industrial exports.
The minister added that the sector’s strategic goals are to increase the sector’s contribution to the GDP to reach 15% in 2024, and to increase the percentage of workers in the sector by 18-20% in the same year with the provision of 400,000-460,000 new job opportunities annually until 2024, and to increase employment rates for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to 61.5% by 2024.
She added that among the strategic goals of the sector are pushing for more integration in value chains as well as increasing the share of industrial exports with a high technological component at a rate of not less than 20% annually, and 10% for medium technological component.
Agricultural Sector
On the objectives of the agricultural sector; she explained that it includes increasing the productivity of the sector and improving its competitiveness, achieving food and water security, with increasing agricultural exports, creating new job opportunities and increasing the income of small farmers.
She added that the government aims to enforce contractual agriculture agreements, establishing logistic center complexes, maximizing the monetary value per cubic meter, and restructuring cooperatives, as well as the modernization of the Agriculture Law issued in 1966.
Strategic Goals
The minister said that the strategic goals of the agricultural sector are to increase the sector’s contribution to the GDP to reach 12% in 2024, increase agricultural productivity by about 30%, create new job opportunities and increase the incomes of small farmers from 430,000-530,000 new jobs by 2024, in addition to increasing exports of crops and agro-industries and doubling the share of the agricultural sector in exports to reach 25% in 2024.
She added that the government will ensure the achievement and sustainability of food and water security, and improving Egypt's ranking in the Global Food Security Index from 60 to 50 out of 113 countries.
She reviewed the strategic objectives of the telecommunications and information technology sector, noting that the sector’s contribution to the GDP is expected to increase to 5% by 2024 while maintaining high growth rates for the sector in the range of 16%, raising the sector’s productivity and its ability to create jobs and increase the number of trainees.
"The Ministry of Communications and its affiliates will witness a growth rate of 20-25% annually, providing 120,000-140,000 new job opportunities by 2024," she pointed out.
She added that the strategic goals of the telecommunications sector include developing the sector's infrastructure, increasing the number of start-ups from 10% to 15%, improving Egypt's ranking according to the Oxford Insights index, ten positions from 55 to 45, in addition to increasing the share of exports of electronic products and technological devices.
The program also aims to double exports of the sector to reach $8 billion by 2024.
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