Egyptian President Abde Fattah El Sisi said on Monday that Egypt’s economic reforms and the work it did before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic helped it keep afloat through the pandemic and minimise its destructive effects on it.
Addressing a plenary session titled, ‘Warning to Humanity and New Hope’ within the World Youth Forum which kicked off an hour earlier, the president said the negative effects wrought on Egypt by the pandemic were minimal compared to other countries.
He said Egypt initiated its economic reforms in November 2016.
“The negative effects of the pandemic would have far more heavy on Egypt, if these reforms were not initiated,” the president said.
This first session of the forum brought together a host of heads of state, government officials and luminaries from around the world, including the presidents of Malta, Zambia, Tanzania and Romania.
President Sisi, who opened the WYF an hour earlier, said the health initiatives launched and implemented by his administration before the pandemic helped reduce its negative effects.
These initiatives, he said, included one for the eradication of hepatitis C.
The president noted that the Covid-19 pandemic could have claimed more lives in Egypt if the Arab country had not treated its hepatitis C sufferers earlier.
He said the pandemic could have ended up claiming the lives of 10 or 20 per cent of infected persons if Egypt had not eradicated hepatitis C before the pandemic outbreak.
President Sisi added that the measures taken by the government through a series of health initiatives succeeded in the elimination of some dangerous diseases and produced a useful health map for Egyptians.
He said Egypt came out of these initiatives in 2018 and 2019 with a good health capacity.
“Some countries had opted for a full closure in the face of the pandemic,” the president said.
“Other countries opted for temporary closures,” he added.
He said Egypt preferred to implement a temporary closure while enforcing precautionary measures that helped it minimise the harmful effects of the pandemic.
The president referred to the Decent Life initiative which aims to improve the lives of 60 million people around the nation.
The initiative, the president said, aimed to eradicate poverty induced by Covid-19.
“The pandemic has caused the number of poor people to increase by tens or even hundreds of millions,” the president said.
He noted that the Decent Life initiative would cost between 600 and 700 billion Egyptian pounds to implement over a period of three years.
“We were keen to keep the economy moving,” the president said.
He added that Egypt was one of few countries that made positive growth during the pandemic, achieving a growth rate of 3.9 per cent in 2019/2020 and 3.3 per cent in 2020/2021.
President Sisi described the pandemic as an ‘ordeal’ that is bringing a number of blessings with it.
“The pandemic can be an ordeal,” the president said.
He added that the pandemic is opening the door for wider co-operation among countries on means of overcoming it as a crisis.
President Sisi said Egypt had already started implementing the second phase of its economic reforms.
He noted that the national economy is ready for any possible shocks in the future or ones that could be induced by the pandemic in the coming period.
The Egyptian leader referred to the many national projects his administration had launched in the past period, ones that aimed to further Egypt’s development and prepare for a better future.
He said Egypt could have reacted to the pandemic by suspending production in it.
“However, we did not do that,” the president said.
He said Egypt had worked out a strategy to maintain work rates, taking strong precautionary measures that protected it against the evil consequences of the pandemic.
The president noted that the pandemic has had its toll on the civil aviation sector and the tourism sector.
He added that his administration had launched initiatives to boost the national economy and secure it as the whole country fought the pandemic.
“We also offered financial support to irregular workers to facilitate life for them,” the president said.
