Dubai: Egypt’s Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said all necessary measures were being taken to support the private sector in one of Africa’s largest economies.
“We made it very clear with economic structural reform that we must rely more and more on the private sector,” said Maait, speaking at the Egypt International Cooperation Forum in Cairo.
Boosting private sector growth is part of Egypt’s economic reform plan as the country recovers from the impact of the COVID-19 virus. Maait said the government had to build trust among private sector participants by relaxing regulations and simplifying doing business in the country.
SMEs are key
Tidjane Thiam, executive chairman of Freedom Acquisition, spoke about the abundance of capital in the financial markets.
The availability of capital is not the issue - the issue is really to find a way to drive the capital to the ground level
Thiam emphasized on the need to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as they are key to building local economies and creating jobs among the youth. Thiam added that it was important to have a system consisting of venture capitalists and angel investors who will work closely with SMEs and fulfill their funding requirements whenever necessary.
Right policy
“When I look at the policy and regulation, I start wearing this hat of how do we actually create stronger institutions within the countries that that we’re dealing with?” said Stephanie von Friedeburg, Senior Vice President of operations, at IFC (International Finance Corporation).
“How do we make sure that we don’t have conflicting policy and regulation and that it’s headed in the right direction?” she added.
Friedeburg spoke about Egypt’s Benban Solar Park, which is expected to produce enough electricity to power one million homes. The project was part of a whole new strategy for infrastructure projects that saw the Egyptian government work closely with private enterprises.
“It required incredible political will on the part of the Egyptian Government to remove fuel subsidies, with help from the World Bank, and then IFC and EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and a lot of other financiers coming in to create a $2 billion project,” said Friedeburg. “If we can get that policy and regulation right you can begin to see the projects coming out of it,” she added.
The event, under the patronage of Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, the President of Egypt, is bringing together national and international policymakers, multilateral and bilateral development partners, private sector, civil society, and think-tanks to join efforts in identifying the parameters of sustainable recovery.
The two-day event, at Cairo’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, is also being streamed online on the forum’s website. It comprises panel discussions, specialized workshops that delve into sector focus, capacity building sessions for participants, as well as development cooperation projects’ visits.
