Egypt's government managed to implement 100 percent of its economic reform programme, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly told the newly-elected House of Representatives. PM Madbouly is delivering a statement and answering questions from MPs on the government's policy program. He added that the government's total investments over the past two years amounted to 324 billion Egyptian pounds . The inflation rate decreased to 5.7 percent, the lowest in 14 years, Madbouly said, adding that the government managed to control prices of food commodities and increase the supply of strategic goods. Egypt's newly-seated House of Representatives had summoned on Sunday the prime minister and other ministers to answer questions on the government's ‘Egypt Kicks Off' programme. The unemployment rate decreased during the third quarter of the financial year 2019/20 to 7.7 percent but later increased to 9.6 percent owing to the coronavirus pandemic, Madbouly said. He added the measures taken by the state amid the pandemic pushed the unemployment rate down to 7.3 percent in the first quarter of the current financial year. Energy In the energy field, Madbouly said the total value of the state's investment in research, development and operation efforts reached $11 billion over the last two years. He also said another $50 million in oil and gas were invested in the field. As many as 3.7 million pre-charged and smart electricity metres have been installed nationwide to collect electrical bills. Fighting the pandemic On coronavirus, Madbouly said the government has worked on sparing the Egyptian people from the worst of the repercussions of the pandemic and continued normal operations during hard and cruel times. The PM said Egypt managed to balance between the scales between protecting citizens' lives and keeping the economy open during the pandemic. He added that the government has known since the start of the crisis that closing the economy would eventually leave the country in a bad situation. Egypt has been among the best countries in the world in dealing with the pandemic and has been one of the countries least affected by the virus, he said. He added that Egypt ranked second after China in terms of economic development in 2020. Madbouly stressed that Egypt's efforts in the face of the pandemic have been hailed internationally.
Foreign policy On the Libyan crisis and the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Madbouly said that the state has adopted balanced policies in dealing with foreign powers. He affirmed that Egypt's foreign policy aims at maintaining balance, supporting the security of Arab Gulf countries, while protecting the country's national security.
