Egypt's Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat has reviewed the implementation of the fiscal year (FY) 2023/24 economic and social development plan with the Economic Committee of the House of Representatives. Al-Mashat, participating in a meeting of the committee chaired by MP Mohamed Suleiman, reported an implementation rate of approximately 98.5% of the targeted plan, which was estimated at EGP 1,650bn. The meeting, also attended by deputy chairs Mohamed Abdel Hamid, Kamal El-Din El-Shafei, and Tarek Hassan Ammar, as well as the committee's secretary and members, focused on the plan's achievements and ongoing efforts to align future targets with Egypt's Vision 2030 and the government's work program. Al-Mashat highlighted the total investments implemented in the 2023/24 plan amounted to approximately EGP 1,626bn, with a growth rate of 5.8% compared to the previous fiscal year. The minister confirmed that despite significant challenges faced by the Egyptian economy, there has been noticeable improvement in several sectors, particularly in economic growth during the first quarter of the current fiscal year. This growth, she said, was driven by the non-oil manufacturing, tourism, transport, and storage sectors. She expects the Egyptian economy to achieve 4% growth in the current fiscal year. Al-Mashat also reviewed the government's efforts to govern public investments to enhance macroeconomic stability, achieve fiscal discipline, maintain public debt sustainability, and combat high inflation rates. She stated that these efforts have resulted in increased private-sector investments in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. "Intensive meetings with ministries [are being held] to discuss the targets of FY 2025/26 development plan, taking into account Egypt's Vision 2030 targets and the Government's work program," Al-Mashat said. Regarding public investments, Al-Mashat outlined that approximately EGP 926bn were implemented, with a growth rate of 6.3% compared to the previous year and an implementation rate of 88% of the targeted amount of EGP 1,050bn. Consequently, the percentage of public investments relative to total investments dropped to about 57% compared to the targeted 64%, which is in line with the state's strategy of promoting private-sector-led economic development. She affirmed that private-sector investments increased to reach EGP 700bn in FY 2023/24, with a growth rate of 5.3%, exceeding the target of EGP 600bn by 116%. This raised their share of total investments to about 43% compared to the targeted 36% in the plan. Al-Mashat noted that this significant increase in private-sector investments helped compensate for the decline in total public investments, reflecting the state's direction to boost private-sector investment activities in line with the State Ownership Policy Document. Investments in infrastructure sectors accounted for approximately EGP 180.6bn, or 57.9% of total public investments, which was lower than the targeted 66.3%. According to Al-Mashat, these allocations were directed towards human development sectors, with an increase in their share of the current year's plan, reaching 42.4% of total public investments, reflecting the state's commitment to supporting human development sectors, as outlined in constitutional requirements. Al-Mashat also pointed out that investments in local development during the year amounted to about EGP 23.2bn, representing 7.5% of total public investments, exceeding the targeted 7.2%. The Upper Egypt governorates received about 35% of total local development investments during the year, compared to 21.4% in the previous year.
