The Ministry of Planning, Economic and International Cooperation said the plan aims to continue the country's development amid successive regional and international tensions that have cast a shadow over the global economy.
Planning Minister Dr. Rania Al-Mashat stated that the
2025-2026 plan embodies a new approach for the ministry following the merger of
the planning, economic development, and international cooperation portfolios.
This approach, "Financing for Development," ensures consistency and
links between national and sectoral development plans and strategies,
maximizing the use of various funding sources, including the state treasury and
concessional development finance from bilateral and multilateral partners.
Al-Mashat added that the ministry adhered to a cap on public
investments to rationalize and govern public spending. This is considered a
core pillar for achieving macroeconomic stability and mobilizing other funding
sources by attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), forging major Arab and
regional investment partnerships, and encouraging private sector participation
in development efforts.
The plan’s main pillars outline a new methodology for
preparing the 2025-2026 development plan, which will be integrated into a
medium-term budgetary framework (2025-2026 to 2028-2029). This will unify the
time frame for the plan from the perspective of both the Ministry of Planning
and the Ministry of Finance. The plan also emphasizes a participatory approach
in line with the Planning Law No. 18 of 2022.
The plan's priorities include continuing the National
Structural Reform Programme, which focuses on: enhancing macroeconomic
stability, increasing competitiveness and improving the business environment to
boost private sector participation, supporting the transition to a green
economy.
The plan also aims to steer the Egyptian economy toward
tradeable and export-oriented sectors to enhance productive capabilities. The
plan's document explains a focus on prioritizing sectors to rationalize and
improve the efficiency of public spending. This gives priority to economic
growth drivers in agriculture, manufacturing, communications, information
technology, and other sectors where Egypt has a comparative advantage, such as
tourism and logistics. It also prioritizes health, pre-university and university
education, and scientific research while considering the regional distribution
of local investments to reduce development disparities between governorates.
According to the report, the plan document highlights the
expected effects of reforms on macroeconomic and various economic sectors. The
plan aims to achieve an economic growth rate of 4.5% in 2025-2026.
With the targeted growth rate, the plan forecasts the gross
domestic product (GDP) will rise to about 9.1 trillion Egyptian pounds at
constant prices in 2025-2026. At current prices, it is expected to reach about
20.4 trillion pounds, compared to an expected 17.3 trillion pounds in
2024-2025, an increase of 18%.
For the first time, the plan aims to increase total
investments to nearly 3.5 trillion pounds, up from the 2.6 trillion pounds
expected in 2024-2025 and the 1.8 trillion pounds in 2023-2024. This signals
the state's belief in the vital role of investment as a primary driver of
economic growth. The investment rate is targeted to climb to 17.1% of GDP in
2025-2026, compared to 15% in 2024-2025 and 13% in 2023-2024.
The plan forecasts private investments to rise to about 1.94
trillion pounds, making up about 63% of the total, while public investments
account for 37%. This reflects the state's efforts to accelerate private sector
growth while emphasizing good governance and competitive neutrality.
The economic and social development plan has allocated about 1.16 trillion pounds for public investments in 2025-2026, compared to the approximately 1 trillion pounds expected in 2024-2025. This is in line with the state's commitment to the set cap on public investments to rationalize spending, reduce the burden of internal and external debt, and create more opportunities for domestic private sector participation and FDI in development projects, especially high-tech ones.