CAIRO – Egypt’s Finance Minister Mohamed Maait stressed on Friday the importance of international cooperation among all parties to address the global debt issue through comprehensive and effective solutions.
Speaking at a session on “global debt and financing sustainable development” that was held as part of meetings of the finance ministers and governors of central banks of the G20 group in Brazil.
Egypt looks forward to a “global financial structure” that stimulates development financing for emerging economies, taking into account that innovative tools, such as debt-for-food and debt-for-education swaps, help facilitate the development financing process, as it is difficult for emerging economies to achieve development goals with this huge financing cost resulting from the grave repercussions of global crises, the minister said.
He added the state of uncertainty has increased restrictive policies in the forefront of the global economic scene and negative external shocks, a matter that increased with regional and international geopolitical tensions.
Maait underlined that the sustainability of finance, growth and development in developing countries requires international strategies based on a global financial structure that is more biased towards emerging economies and backed local policies that can contribute to advancing development paths.
Egypt seeks to create an appropriate financial space that contributes to strengthening the structure of emerging economies in the face of negative external impacts, in a way that makes them more capable of dealing positively with the exceptional global economic conditions, the minister said.
The local policies of governments, including revenue mobilization, setting spending priorities, and enhancing debt management strategies, are integrated with innovative financing tools, he said, hoping that international institutions and multilateral development banks will give priority for the financing and development programs, the minister concluded.
