The Egyptian Ministry of International Co-operation highlighted the details of the development financing provided by bilateral and multilateral development partners to the Egyptian private sector during the past year, which amounted to $2.6 billion.
This amount has been dedicated to supporting development efforts and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
This came in the Annual Report entitled “International Partnerships for Sustainable Development: From Pledges to Implementation”.
The OPEC Fund for International Development provided $1.21 billion financing to the private sector during the past year, followed by the EBRD with $558 million, the IFC with $233 million, then the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and the Mitsubishi Financial Group with $200 million, the European Investment Bank (EIB) with $170 million, the French Development Agency with $159 million, then the WBG, the AfDB and the European Union (EU) with financing of $50 million, $21.5 million and $15 million, respectively.
The Ministry of International Co-operation said that the private sector is a major focus of the government strategies.It noted that it is working on updating and developing strategies for international cooperation and development financing with several development partners for the next three and five years, in full coordination with all relevant entities and ministries.
In 2022, the country launched its strategies with the EBRD for the period 2022- 2027, the AfDB and the French Development Agency. Moreover, several rounds of discussions were held with the United Nations and its affiliated agencies in order to finalise the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for the period 2023 – 2027, which will be launched in the first quarter of this current year.
In the 2022 Annual Report, the Ministry of International Co-operation stated that the UNSDCF 2023-2027, which is scheduled to be launched soon, includes, among its objectives, maintaining a business-friendly environment, promoting social and sustainable corporate responsibility, and creating large-scale partnerships, stimulating innovative and sustainable development solutions for knowledge-based economic development, enhancing the capabilities of medium and small enterprises and entrepreneurs, and supporting value chains, digital transformation and decent jobs for women.
In the same context, the joint strategy with the EBRD for the period 2022-2027 aims to create a more competitive and resilient private sector after Covid-19, stimulate the private sector to increase financial products to become more in-depth and diversified, increase private sector participation in development, and improve governance and business environment.
Moreover, the country strategy with the AfDB for the period 2022-2026 works to promote the development of the private sector, create decent job opportunities, and improve the investment climate in a way that would strengthen the competitiveness of industrial development and increase industrial production.
At the end of 2022, the World Bank Group (WBG) approved $500 million in development financing to enhance social protection efforts, support the state’s efforts to expand the Takaful and Karama programme.
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