By Ashraf Sadek: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Wednesday stressed the importance of continuing the government's efforts to give a boost to the economy and preserve monetary stability. President Sisi also called on the government to provide the credit facilities deemed necessary for meeting the needs of various sectors; particularly with regard to social protection nets and programmes, since such support helps alleviate the economic burden borne by the neediest segments and limited-income citizens. President Sisi's issued his directives at a meeting he called Wednesday with Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Governor Tarek Amer to review the latest developments pertaining to the economic reforms, which the government launched two years ago, Presidency Spokesman Ambassador Bassam Radi said. During the meeting, Governor Amer briefed the president on the present economic and monetary scenes, which indicated a positive outlook for the Egyptian economy. Governor Amer said that the reforms, which included adopting economic restructuring policies and liberalising the exchange rates, had resulted in an unprecedented rise in the country's foreign reserves, Ambassador Radi said. President Sisi stressed the need to pursue the efforts aimed at expanding social protection networks, Ambassador Radi said. President Sisi also stressed the need to continue with plans to develop the systems applied by the banking sector and affiliated bodies so as to improve the services provided to citizens, Spokesman Radi added. Governor Amer said that there were more than 17 million people benefitting from the services that were being offered by the banks and post offices across the nation. He said that the CBE would launch a set of plans for increasing the number of bank users nationwide.
