Egypt's economy has faced significant challenges in 2024, exacerbated by Israel's ongoing conflict with Gaza Strip and other regional tensions.
In the first quarter, Egypt's economy saw record-high inflation rates, a surge in foreign currency black market, a drop in major revenue streams and dwindling Central Bank reserves on the back of the Ukraine war and conflicts in neighboring Sudan, Libya, Gaza and Yemen.
The country was bailed out by a mega 35-billion-dollar real estate investment deal with the UAE and an 8-billion-dollar loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"All of this made Egypt float, just float for the coming two years, if we can say. However, this is all like a painkiller, if we can say, until the economy can restore its robust activities and try to attract FDIs," said Ahmed Abou El-Saad, CEO of Azimut Investments Egypt.
A devaluation of the Egyptian pound in March helped partially stabilize the economy and secure an inflow of financial assistance to help the government implement painful austerity measures. The government launched social welfare programs for the poor to sustain the impact of the IMF-led measures, but it wasn't smoothly sailing.
Experts said cooperation with the IMF could lead to fruitful results, but the regional turmoil made the situation more complicated.
"If you stick to the agreed reform program with the IMF and go according to plan, these reforms will start to show encouraging results, and things will be fine. Egypt has faced many problems when it comes to cooperation with the IMF in recent years. These problems were not caused by Egypt, but by global volatility in the last four or five years," said Mohamed Hassan, CEO of Alfa Financial Investment Consultancy Firm.
Egypt is still unable to unlock a badly needed 1.5-billion-dollar tranche of the IMF loan because it wants to postpone a previously approved timeline to eradicate energy subsidies, in order to avoid a public backlash.
Meanwhile, the government is pushing ahead with various regulations and incentives to attract investments, increase local production and revitalize the tourism sector to increase revenue streams.
Egyptians hope 2025 would be the year to bear the fruits of tough reforms of the last few years.
"I think now Egypt is positioned towards a better future, trying to restore confidence again from the international players. The policies have been well written, but again it will always depend on how to implement these policies. Now it's time to deliver because we don't have this luxury of time," said El-Saad.
Egypt grapples with economic headwinds amid regional conflicts
China will take more effective measures to improve people's wellbeing, especially in education, healthcare, and social security, an official said Thursday in Beijing at a press conference on the interpretation of this year's government work report, which was submitted to the national legislature for deliberation earlier in the day.
Shen Danyang, head of the government work report drafting team and director of the State Council Research Office, said centering on enhancing educational equity and quality, the report made arrangements for education at all educational stages and of all types.
"Regarding preschool education, the policy of free education in the year prior to entering primary school will continue to be implemented this year, which is commonly referred to as free admission to the senior class of kindergartens. So, how can the income reduction of kindergartens be addressed? Subsidies will be provided by both the central and local governments, with the central government taking the lion's share. This year, the funds allocated to support the development of preschool education will increase significantly by 37.8 percent to ensure the implementation of the beneficial policy," he said.
Regarding senior high school education, Shen said the report stated that the supply of regular senior high school places will be increased,
Specifically, for areas with a continuous net inflow of population, a number of regular high schools will be planned and constructed on an annual basis. For regions with a temporary shortage of school places, priority will be given to the renovation and expansion of existing teaching buildings, student dormitories and canteens, he said.
Shen said the report put forward many supportive measures in healthcare.
"For instance, it urged efforts to strengthen coordination in drug use at the grassroots level, which mean improving the list of essential drugs, and optimizing the channels for drug supply and drug use coordination between upper- and lower-level medical and health institutions to make it more convenient for the public to use drugs at their doorstep. Besides, the report has made arrangements for supporting the development of innovative drugs for the third consecutive year. This year, China will strengthen the coordination of supportive policies in an all-round way, further address issues such as the barriers facing innovative drugs entering hospitals, and better meet the diverse medical and medication needs of the people," he said.
In terms of social security, Shen said the report proposed to continue raising the minimum standard of basic pensions for urban and rural residents -- a policy will benefit over 180 million elderly people.
"The central government will allocate 1.25 trillion yuan (about 181.25 billion U.S. dollars) in subsidy funds to ensure the timely and full payment of pensions. In response to the insufficient protection of the rights and interests of people engaging in new occupations, the report proposed to steadily and orderly expand the scale of the pilot program for occupational injury insurance. This year, the policy will cover 31 provincial-level regions across the country and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Meanwhile, enterprises specializing in travel, instant delivery and intra-city freight delivery will be included in the pilot program, which will ensure the safety of more laborers, such as food delivery workers and online car-hailing drivers," he said.
China to improve people's wellbeing in education, healthcare, social security: official
