THE MINISTER OF PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BEFORE THE SENATE: EGP 1.1 TRILLION IN PUBLIC INVESTMENTS AND EGP 350 BILLION IN PRIVATE INVESTMENTS IN THE 2022/2023 PLAN
H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, said that it was expected that the year 21/2022 would achieve a growth of 6.4% after the gradual recovery from the pandemic, especially after recording a high growth rate in the first half of the year in the range of 9%, but the negative effects of the crisis Russian/Ukrainian affected sectoral growth expectations and investment flows, as the target growth rate for the current year was revised and lowered to 5.7%.
El-Said pointed out that the initial indicators in the third quarter of 21/2022 indicate a 6% growth rate, with some expected decline in the year 22/2023 to 5.5% in light of the current international events, before resuming its upward trend to record 6.2% and 6.5 % in the following two years, indicating that these rates are high compared to the rate achieved in 20/2021, which is 3.3%.
This came during the Minister of Planning and Economic Development’s discussion of the features of the investment plan for the fiscal year 2022-2023 today during the meeting of the Senate Financial and Economic Affairs Committee, in the presence of Dr. Hani Sarie El-Din, Chairman of the Committee and members of the Committee, Dr. Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning and many ministry leaders.
Dr. Hala El-Said indicated that it is estimated that the gross domestic product in the year of the plan will reach about EGP 9.26 trillion at current prices, with a growth rate of 16.3% over the output of the previous year, which amounted to about EGP 7.96 trillion.
The GDP at constant prices is estimated at EGP 8.4 trillion in the year of the 22/2023 plan, which aims to make a big investment boom compared to previous years.
El-Said pointed out that for the second year in a row, the estimated investments exceeded EGP one trillion, to record about EGP 1.45 trillion, compared to expected investments for the year 21/2022 amounting to EGP 1.24 trillion, with a growth of rate of nearly 17%.
El-Said added that it is targeted to allocate about EGP1.1 trillion as public investments, representing 76% of the total investments, compared to EGP 350 billion in private investments, at 24%.
El-Said emphasized that this investment boom is based on national projects that are intended to be established and expanded through investments by public economic authorities.
El-Said added that at the level of sectoral balance for public investments, the plan took into account the achievement of a balanced structure, by directing about 35.6% of public investments to the commodity sectors, and about 31.8% of public investments to sectors concerned with productive services, compared to 32.6% for social activities such as education, health, youth services, sports, and others.
Dr. Hala El-Said indicated that about EGP 17.5 billion will be allocated to the general offices of the governorates and the General Diwan of the Ministry of Local Development in his 2023/22 plan.
El-Said explained that about 41% of those investments will be allocated to road projects, 20% of which are environmental improvement services, and services to support the needs of local units 14%, in addition to 12% for infrastructure and fire services, and 7% for utilities.
El-Said continued that on the level of the governorates, 57.6 % of those who are distributed by distributed investments are distributed, on the preservations of the arbitrary, bias, and Sinai, and from the division of the divinity. El-Said indicated giving absolute priority to pharmaceutical manufacturing projects and medical care services that aim to preserve the safety of citizens, and projects that contribute to accelerating production and operation.
The Minister of Planning said that the plan's publication includes a set of guidelines for investment standards and controls, represented in the Environmental Sustainability Guide and the Gender Responsive Planning Guide, in addition to the priority of directing investments to green projects and projects that take into account the rights of women, children and people of determination.
Regarding the priorities report, El-Said explained that the plan prioritizes the completion of the projects that are being implemented, which have made great strides in implementation by at least 70% so that they are expected to be completed before the end of the plan year.The Minister of Planning and Economic Development stated that the plan for the fiscal year 2022/2023 includes for the first time a special section dealing with the role of the plan in implementing the National Human Rights Strategy (2021-2026), launched by the President of the Republic in September 2021, through linking projects, programs and development initiatives targeted by the plan and the main axes of the strategy.
El-Said stressed that the plan gave great attention to the issues of inflationary pressures and their social repercussions that the Egyptian economy is currently facing in light of the consequences of global crises through what is known as imported inflation, as well as the issue of employment and maintaining unemployment rates at their lowest levels.
Concerning containing inflation, El-Said explained that the plan included mechanisms to absorb liquidity and control inflation rates despite the growing global inflationary pressures, explaining that the most prominent of these mechanisms was giving absolute priority to securing the country's import needs of strategic supply commodities, tightening supply control in the markets.
El-Said went on to review the mechanisms, noting the increase in the number of families benefiting from the social solidarity program, the increase in pensions, and the tax exemption limit to provide more protection for the first groups in care.
El-Said pointed out that the state has allocated 130 billion pounds to deal with the repercussions of the crisis and mitigate its effects on the citizen, provided that 2.7 billion pounds will be provided to include 450 thousand new families for beneficiaries of the Takaful and Karama programs, in addition to allocating about 190 billion pounds to the National Authority for Social Insurance to disburse the increase in pensions. By 13%, with a minimum of 120 pounds, starting from the beginning of April ending, as well as the provision of 36 billion pounds to disburse periodic bonuses to civil servants.
Regarding the issue of unemployment, El-Said affirmed that the plan aims to expand the absorptive capacity of the labor market to reach 900,000 individuals while maintaining unemployment rates at their current level of 7.4% - 7.5%.
El-Said added that the 2023/22 plan also includes state policies and targeted government programs to address climate change and its repercussions on the ecosystem and the national economy, in light of the recommendations of the Climate Summit held in Glasgow, United Kingdom in 2021.
El-Said added that in the context of Egypt's hosting of the Climate Summit 2022 (COP 27), the plan highlights Egypt's keenness to adopt government initiatives that support sustainable green growth, so that its investments constitute 40% of the total public investments in the year of the plan, compared to 30% at present. 50% by 2025, in addition to aiming to raise the percentage of renewable energy from the total energy used to 20% on 22/2023, then to 25% on 24/2025, and to approach the targets of 2035 (42%), as well as expanding transportation projects and the conclusion of international agreements for the production of green hydrogen as an intermediate for the production of green ammonia.