Dr. Hussein Essa, Chairman of the House of Representatives (HoRs) Plan and Budget Committee, presented the committees report on the states general budget for the fiscal year 2020-2021.
Essa said that the committee has developed 5 scenarios according to scientific basis to mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic of the Coronavirus on the national economy and public revenues of the state.
Essa affirmed, during the plenary sitting held today, that Egypt had taken suitable measures to tackle the Coronavirus.
He indicated that as there an increase in the infections with the virus now, there were expectations that the crisis would affect the economic sectors.
These sectors have been affected negatively due to the current conditions such as retreat in tourism revenues, low return on civil aviation, the slowdown in the Suez Canal activity and the decrease in exports.
He added, there has been slackening in foreign investment flows, the pound exchange rate has declined against the US dollar, investment has declined, and some sectors have experienced an imbalance.
He revealed that measures have been taken to prevent the spread of the pandemic, stimulate economic activity and drive production.
The chairman emphasized that regulatory decisions were taken with the aim of providing funds for the health sector and credits were allocated for irregular laborers and tourism.
The chairman added that another measures were taken by the state to achieve tax facilities and some other monetary policies to deal with the pandemic, saying that the steadfastness of the Egyptian state is due to the comprehensive economic reform that enjoyed the confidence and support of the HoR.
On the other hand, Dr. Abdel-Hadi Al-Qasabi, leader of the majority in the HoR, and head of the Support Egypt Coalition (SEC), praised the report of the Plan and Budget Committee on the state's general budget for the fiscal year 2020-2012.
Al-Qasabi affirmed that all recommendations presented by all the committees were taken to account.
This came during the plenary sitting of the HoR held today.
Al-Qasabi said that the state's general budget met with the constitutional requirements such as health and education and took the recommendations that came out of the committees.
He called for a study to determine priorities of the Egyptian state in the post-Corona period, stressing that the draft budget and the sustainable development plan come in the light of a different view in the world about the current situations.
All counties in the world are facing an unconventional event.
"So, we must not stop at the numbers in the budget but rather we must reach to a greater extent which is the effects of the numbers that are presented on the economic, social, health and political situation."
He said that the he pre-pandemic stage differs completely from the post-stage, and the Egyptian state was able to achieve success as a result of the economic reform plan.
Also the head of the SEC said that the next plan aims at reducing the amount of losses.
Over the same session of the HoR held today, Representative Ahmed Samir, head of the Economic Affairs Committee, affirmed that the economic reforms led by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi were the main pillar that enabled the country to take the necessary measures to limit the spread of the new Coronavirus Covid-19".
Samir pointed out that Egypt became one of the few countries in the region which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes she will achieve a positive growth rate this year.
He recommended rejecting the Authority of the Financial Supervision due to suspicions of unconstitutionality in some of the fees set by the authority without real service. The fees were based on the estimation of its budget, in addition to the violation of some of the authority's board of directors to the law.
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