Participants included Dr. Moustafa El-Feky, Chairman of the Arab Media Centre, Tarek El Kholy, Deputy Governor of the CBE, Mohamed El Etreby, CEO of Banque Misr and Chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Banks, Hisham Okasha, CEO of Banque Misr, and a selection of bankers and economists.
In her address, delivered via video conference, Dr.
Al-Mashat affirmed that the "People and Banks" Economic Conference
has served as an important platform over its previous sessions for exchanging
views on key issues in the Egyptian economy and presenting developments in the
economic and banking sectors and their relation to the Egyptian citizen.
The current parliamentary session comes as the Egyptian
economy shows notable improvement, with economic growth rising to 4.4 percent
by the end of the last fiscal year.
The Minister attributed the growth to significant progress
in key non-oil sectors including manufacturing, telecommunications and
information technology, tourism, and financial services.
She added that recent decisions by major credit rating agencies
to raise Egypt's rating to 'B' with a stable outlook underscored the progress.
This upgrade, she stressed, confirms the effectiveness of the economic and
structural reforms implemented since March 2024. Al-Mashat credited the success
to close coordination within the economic ministerial group and integration
between the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and the government, aimed at
maintaining macroeconomic stability and unlocking the Egyptian economy’s
inherent potential.
Amidst these developments, she highlighted Egypt's
successful role, under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's leadership, in
coordinating international and regional efforts leading to a historic peace
agreement in Sharm El Sheikh to halt the war on the Gaza Strip.
She said the pact’s endurance would offer more positive
prospects for the Egyptian and regional economies, specifically by allowing the
full resumption of Suez Canal activities.
Given these positive developments and the government's
commitment to ongoing economic and structural reforms, the minister projected
that the Egyptian economy is expected to achieve growth approaching 5 percent
during the current fiscal year.
The Minister, whose Planning Ministry is tasked with setting
strategic goals and implementation priorities, also detailed the newly
formulated "National Economic Development Narrative: Growth and
Employment-Supporting Policies."
She affirmed that this economic reform program goes beyond
traditional fiscal and monetary policies. Its main goal is to integrate Vision
2030 with the government program and sectoral strategies to establish an
economic model focused on macroeconomic stability and productive,
export-oriented sectors.
Al-Mashat noted the narrative will be implemented via the National
Structural Reform Programme, which includes various time-bound measures focused
on real economy sectors and stimulating growth and employment.
In a related context, she highlighted the ministry's close
cooperation with the banking sector, led by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
She noted that various financing tools provided by international
partners—including credit lines, direct investments, and concessional financing—have
exceeded $16 billion since 2020.
The minister stressed the crucial role of the financial and
banking sector in attracting this type of financing, noting that financial
institutions, especially banks, accounted for $42 percent of the development
funds. This reflects the increasing confidence of international development
partners in the Egyptian banking system as a key channel for capital flows and
the development of SMEs and entrepreneurship.
During her participation in the World Bank Annual Meetings
in Washington, the minister observed significant interest from international
private-sector financing institutions in the Egyptian market.
She reported fruitful discussions with the International
Finance Corporation (IFC) to boost private-sector financing partnerships. These
efforts aim to leverage the World Bank’s unified guarantees platform and the
European Union’s investment guarantee mechanism.
According to the minister, this will create more financing opportunities for both local and foreign private-sector companies in Egypt, reinforcing the state's drive to empower the private sector and increase investments.