Senior Investment Policy Officer at the World Bank (WB), Aminur Rahman, recommended that Egypt develops its digital infrastructure with the aim of accomplishing its development process. Rahman noted on Tuesday during his participation in the two–day conference Euromoney Egypt 2018 that Egypt remains a cash economy, adding, "access to finance particularly to micro, small and medium enterprises. And start-ups, needs to be enhanced by developing different channels of funding, such as capital markets, venture capitals, and private equity." The WB realises that Egypt has already implemented legislative reforms to create a suitable environment for the private sector, said Rahman, noting that competition in both the domestic and international private sectors drive productivity. "It is critical for firms to improve productivity depending on the global technology," said Rahman, noting that governments in some countries' economic development experiences such as East Asia hardly worked on opening up to international trade. "It is very important to move closer to trade barriers removal. Foreign Direct Investments should go hand-in-hand with the country's export strategy," said Rahman. Additionally, Rahman congratulated Egypt on the economic reforms that have been implemented over the past four years, adding, "policy and institutional reforms led to better electricity supplies to the private sector." Along with the macro economy reforms, the government introduced a number of procedures to enhance the business environment and attract more investments, noted Rahman. Investment law along with its incentives aim to provide electronic approvals promptly through the general authority for investment and free zones, added Rahman, noting that the reform in business registration procedures and bankruptcy law aim to facilitate competition through easier entry and exit of enterprises. The license law allows the industrial entities to get approval from one authority instead of 11 agencies that used to take up to 600 days, said Rahman, noting, "now it is time to focus on productivity agenda as the next generation of the reform." The path for an emerging economy to become more productive is achieved through two ways, said Rahman, explaining, "the first is to move from low productivity to high productive sectors while the second way is firm-level productivity." "We have a very optimistic outlook for Egypt, its productivity, competitiveness capabilities," said Rahman.
