Egypt is looking to ensure that 50 million citizens in all underdeveloped villages nationwide will benefit from its Decent Life initiative at an estimated cost of EGP 500 billion in the upcoming three years, Planning and Economic Development Minister Hala El-Said told the House of Representatives on Monday. During her revision of the implementation of the government's ‘Egypt Kicks Off' programme in front of parliament, El-Said said allocations for the first phase of the presidential initiative was set at EGP 20 billion for 375 villages. The first phase covered approximately 4.5 million citizens, she said. The initiative, launched by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in early 2019, aims to provide better living conditions for the neediest rural villages in Egypt. The president has said that the second stage of the initiative, launched in December, targets a total of 1,500 villages inhabited by 18 million citizens. El-Said said that a plan of action is being developed, for the first time in Egypt's history of economic reform, to transform the Egyptian economy into a productive, knowledge-based economy with competitive capabilities in the global economy. Al-Saeed also shed light on the “Structural Reform Programme for The Egyptian Economy”, a plan of action being developed to implement structural reforms to encourage inclusive growth and create decent job opportunities. Three productive sectors have been identified as a major priority for the structural reform program, namely: the agriculture sector, the industrial sector and the communications and information technology sector, she explained, which are capable of creating job opportunities and providing sustainable foreign exchange. She added in another statement that the government, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, will begin issuing green bonds to help finance green initiatives and investment projects. This will double the percentage of green public investments from 15 percent in the current fiscal year to 30 percent in FY 21/2022, eventually reaching 50 percent by the end of FY 24/2025. Additionally, she stressed the importance of Egypt's Family Planning Program, and how the imbalance between the rate of population growth and the size of resources can hurt prospects for development, effectively reducing per capita spending on education, health, housing, and transportation.
