OECD, Egypt collaborate on 21 projects in the 2nd phase of the National Structural Reform Programme

Egypt and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced a country programme that comprises 21 projects. The initiative, ratified in October 2021 and launched in September 2022, is set to make significant strides in creating job opportunities, enhancing the business scene, encouraging the digital transformation, promoting innovation and AI technologies, boosting governance, and tackling corruption. OECD Secretary-General Mathiass Cormann has hailed Egypt’s progress in economic reform, indicating that they have emerged as a critical player in capacity building across the 19 countries with OECD programmes in the MENA region. Echoing this sentiment, Minister of Planning and Economic Cooperation Hala al-Said acknowledged that the country chose to collaborate with OECD because of its broad experience with structural reform. She further shared some pre-pandemic indicators of Egypt’s economic performance post the last economic reform programme that kickstarted in 2016. The unemployment rate fell dramatically, there was solid economic growth, an increased FDI inflow, raised expat remittances, and reduced inflation and budget deficit. Al-Said clarified amid this announcement that Egypt had commenced the second phase of the National Structural Reform Programme which focuses on enhancing the labour market's efficiency, increasing private sector investments, and others. As part of this, the minister noted that the key sectors in the Egyptian economy are agriculture, manufacturing, ICT, tourism, and logistics with an aim to increase their contribution significantly in the coming years.