Al-Mashat: The total targeted investment volume for 2025/2026 is EGP 3.5 trillion.
The Minister of Planning and International Cooperation indicated before the House of Representatives that private investments increased to 1.94 trillion pounds, representing 62.71% of the total.
Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, said that the government's reform interventions since March 2024, in fiscal and monetary policies, and public investment governance, have led to a significant improvement in the performance of the Egyptian economy in recent times.
This came during the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation's presentation of the objectives and main features of the draft economic and social development plan for the fiscal year 2025/2026, within the framework of the medium-term plan (2025/2026 - 2028/2029), before the House of Representatives today.
Al-Mashat spoke about the significant improvement in economic growth during the first and second quarters of the current fiscal year, rising from 3.51% to 4.31%, with growth expected to reach 4.11% and 4.21% in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, with the economy recording a growth rate of 41% by the end of the year.
This was driven by growth in key sectors, particularly non-oil manufacturing, along with a recovery in the tourism sector and growth in the communications and information technology sector. This growth is also attributed to the Egyptian government's adoption of clear policies to consolidate macroeconomic stability, strengthen the governance of investment spending, and slow the growth of public investment in favor of private sector investment.
She added that the signs of improvement in the Egyptian economy's performance also include a growth in tourism revenues to $4.8 billion in the first quarter of 2024/25, compared to $4.5 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2023/24, and a decline in Suez Canal revenues during the last three months of 2024, from 631 TP3T in October 2024 to 59.21 TP3T in December 2024. The decline rate reached 23.81 TP3T in February 2025. In addition, the Central Bank of Egypt's foreign exchange reserves rose year-on-year to $47.4 billion at the end of February 2025, compared to $35.3 billion in February 2024, a growth rate of approximately 341 TP3T.
Al-Mashat explained that among the manifestations of this improvement are the continued containment of inflation, especially with its downward trend last March due to the base period effect, along with the continued monitoring and review of energy prices based on global developments and the cost of local production, and the increase in the value of remittances from Egyptians working abroad to $17.1 billion in the first half of 2024/25, compared to $9.4 billion in the corresponding period of 2023/24, in addition to a boom in net foreign direct investment from $10 billion in 2023/24 to $46.1 billion in 2024/25.
The Minister of Planning and International Cooperation also reviewed the targets of the 2025/2026 plan, stressing that it is estimated to achieve an economic growth rate of 4.51 TP3T, which is a relatively high rate compared to the modest rate of 2.41 TP3T recorded in 2023/2024, against the backdrop of the direct impact of the economic and geopolitical crises. Targeting this rate also reflects a good approach to continuing recovery from their repercussions.
She stressed the importance of monitoring the repercussions of geopolitical and economic developments in the Middle East and the world, and the uncertainty they impose, given the potential negative impact they could have on the targeted growth rate.
Al-Mashat confirmed that the GDP is expected to rise to about EGP 9.1 trillion at constant prices in 2025/26, reaching about EGP 20.4 trillion at current prices, compared to about EGP 17.3 trillion expected in 2024/25, an increase of 181%. The three sources of economic growth contribute positively and balancedly to achieving the targeted growth rate of 4.51%, as final consumer spending contributes by about EGP 271, investment spending by 371, and net change in exports by 361.
The Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation addressed the sectoral contributions to the GDP for the year 2025/2026, noting that the wholesale and retail trade, agriculture, manufacturing, real estate, transportation, and social services sectors constitute the driving sectors for rapid economic growth due to their large relative weight in the GDP and the growth of their commodity and service activities, in accordance with the priority scale set out in the plan.
Al-Mashat pointed out that the total investment target of the plan has grown to reach EGP 3.5 trillion for the first time, compared to the expected investments for 2024/2025, which amounted to approximately EGP 2.6 trillion, and the actual investments for 2023/2024, which amounted to EGP 1.8 trillion. She stressed that these indicators demonstrate the state's belief in the important role played by investment as a fundamental and effective driver of economic growth.
It also confirmed the continued rise in the investment rate, recording 17.11 TP3T of the GDP in 2025/2026, compared to lower rates in the previous two years, as it reached 151 TP3T in 2024/2025 and 131 TP3T in 2023/2024, indicating that the required balance has been achieved in the investment contributions of the three sectoral groups that make up the expected GDP in 2025/2026.
Al-Mashat continued that private investments are expected to increase to approximately EGP 1.94 trillion, representing 62.71% of the total, compared to 37.31% for public investments. This is in light of the state's efforts to support efforts aimed at accelerating the pace of private sector growth while emphasizing the principles of good governance and competitive neutrality.
It also indicated the allocation of appropriations amounting to approximately 1.16 trillion pounds as targeted public investments in the 2025/2026 plan, compared to expected investments in 2024/2025 of approximately one trillion pounds. This is within the framework of the state's commitment to the credit ceiling set in this regard, to rationalize public spending, reduce the debt burden resulting from servicing domestic and external public debt, and open up wider areas for private sector participation in development efforts. The structure of the distribution of public investments reveals that the government apparatus acquires 37.61 TP3T, and public economic authorities acquire 43.31 TP3T, compared to 19.11 TP3T as local investments at the level of general governorate offices.
She stressed that the 2025/2026 plan is generally keen to continue raising the efficiency of public investment, whether in the planning and resource allocation phase or in the implementation monitoring and performance evaluation phase, by emphasizing the importance of adhering to the proposed mechanisms for developing and raising the efficiency of public investment. She added that the monitoring and performance evaluation work, in accordance with the program and performance methodology, includes monitoring the implementation of the plan in line with the objectives of Egypt Vision 2030 and the government's work program, monitoring sectoral strategy indicators and verifying their compatibility with the plan's objectives, monitoring the impact of public investment on improving international indicators, monitoring the impact of program implementation on localizing sustainable development in the governorates, evaluating the impact of the plan on the transition to a green economy, in addition to evaluating the impact of the plan on taking into account social priorities.
The Minister of Planning and International Cooperation also reviewed the sectoral features of the 2025/2026 plan, highlighting the plan's directions in achieving sectoral development dimensions.
She emphasized that the primary goal of development efforts is to build the Egyptian human being. Therefore, the plan places utmost importance on consolidating the dimensions of human development, by directing a significant proportion of total investments to identifying and developing health and education services and making them available to all citizens across the country. This will help narrow the qualitative and spatial gaps and continue to advance Egypt's position on the global Human Development Index.
Al-Mashat added that the 2025/2026 development plan directs public investments of approximately EGP 327 billion to the health, education, scientific research, and other services sectors, as the primary goal of development efforts is to build the Egyptian human being. The development plan has been keen to give utmost importance to consolidating the dimensions of human development by directing a significant percentage of total investments to modernizing and developing health and education services and making them available to all citizens in various regions of the Republic, allowing for reducing qualitative and spatial gaps and continuing to improve human development indicators, whose index has gradually increased from 0.706 in 2015 to record 0.75 in 2023/2024.
Regarding the field of upgrading the health and education systems, the Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation added that approximately EGP 85.6 billion has been allocated as public investments to the health sector, EGP 63.4 billion to the education services sector, and approximately EGP 178 billion to other social services. The state budget contributes approximately EGP 219 billion in financing, equivalent to two-thirds of the total investments directed to these three sectors, confirming the importance of investing in human capital development as a driving force for the advancement of the Egyptian people and enhancing their effectiveness in launching into the realm of sustainable development.
Al-Mashat pointed to the field of pre-university education, as the plan includes the establishment of 17,300 new classrooms, the development of 1,851 existing schools, and the rehabilitation, replacement, and renovation of 12,500 classrooms. The development plan aims to develop existing schools and provide new classrooms to reduce classroom density and expand the availability of educational services, especially in the areas most in need of them, and direct investments to primary schools, especially in the governorates of Cairo, Alexandria, Giza, Beheira, and Fayoum, in addition to the expansion of educational buildings. The plan's directions include increasing attention to rehabilitating schools to achieve quality, and a commitment to implementing the plan to appoint 150,000 teachers, in addition to activating literacy programs, especially in governorates with high illiteracy rates, as well as expanding the establishment of nurseries.
Al-Mashat emphasized that the plan, in the field of technical education, aims to establish 536 new classrooms, replace and renovate approximately 902 classrooms, develop and rehabilitate 126 existing schools, in addition to implementing walls and establishing 10 applied technology schools. She pointed out that the plan is keen to stimulate partnerships with the private sector to establish these schools in a way that meets the requirements of the labor market for this specialized type of school graduates, in addition to accelerating the digital transformation that supports the educational process due to its great importance in developing students’ skills, in addition to continuing to develop curricula to improve the quality of school education outcomes, and developing students’ capabilities for innovation and creativity.
Regarding university and higher education, Al-Mashat added that the 2025/2026 plan includes completing educational building and university city projects in 29 public universities, providing workshop and laboratory equipment in 12 technological universities, and completing electronic tests in Egyptian universities. This is based on improving the quality of higher education and increasing the international competitiveness of Egyptian universities. This is in light of increasing the competitiveness of higher education by establishing a package of investment incentives that encourage the private sector to invest in establishing more private universities, especially with achieving high availability rates in public and private universities, and increasing interest in projects to qualify Egyptian public universities to achieve quality, and increasing international competitiveness, which contributes to increasing exports of educational services, and increasing the number of universities included in international classifications.
The Minister of Planning and International Cooperation pointed to the public investments directed to the advancement of health services, estimated at about 86 billion pounds in the 2025/2026 plan, including an increase in investments financed by the public treasury by more than 87%, as the main projects targeted by the plan include the completion of the implementation of 47 health and university hospitals, including 41 health hospitals and 6 university hospitals, with the completion rate exceeding 70% in preparation for entering service, including 15 hospitals for therapeutic care, 10 hospitals for comprehensive health insurance, the first phase, and 4 hospitals for comprehensive health insurance, the second phase, in the governorates of Matrouh, Minya, and North Sinai, 3 hospitals, specialized medical centers, and 3 mental health hospitals.
She added that 17 Egyptian Family Development Centers, 9 health units, and a plasma center in Sohag Governorate have also been completed. This is in addition to completing the development and equipping of 75 hospitals for therapeutic care, 50 hospitals affiliated with the Secretariat of Specialized Medical Centers, 27 hospitals for mental health secretariat, and 11 plasma centers. 10 modular hospitals have been initiated, including 2 hospitals in Minya and Kafr El-Sheikh. 172 projects have been implemented in the field of developing university hospitals, completing their mechanization, and completing the development and equipping of medical centers and units, such as completing the central laboratories building in Badr City, the medical city at Nasser Institute, developing control centers, and equipping the unified national network for emergencies and public safety.
The Minister of Planning and International Cooperation emphasized the plan's commitment to enhancing access to health services by increasing the number of doctors available per 10,000 people and the number of hospital beds available. Special attention will be given to developing and expanding the primary health care sector and preventive medicine departments, as well as continuing the effective implementation of the National Comprehensive Health Insurance Program in the remaining governorates of the country.
In the field of sports services, Al-Mashat confirmed that the plan aims to expand the establishment of youth facilities and develop 156 youth centers, in addition to establishing and developing 10 youth cities, 6 youth camps, 4 youth development centers, 3 civic education centers, 3 scouting facilities, 5 youth forums, and 2 youth hostels, in addition to expanding the establishment of sports facilities, by establishing and developing 28 playgrounds, developing 8 stadiums, 53 clubs, in addition to 9 clubs for people with special needs, 4 sports cities, 18 swimming pools, 2 sports medicine hospitals, and 9 sports medicine units.
National Project for the Development of the Egyptian Family
She highlighted the government's utmost importance to continuing to implement the National Project for the Development of the Egyptian Family, with its comprehensive developmental axes and dimensions, including women's economic empowerment, service interventions, cultural, awareness-raising, and educational interventions, digital transformation, monitoring and evaluation, and legislative interventions, all within the framework of managing the population issue according to a comprehensive development perspective.
The Minister of Planning and International Cooperation explained that the efforts to implement the project in the first phase 2021-2024 resulted in about 28 million citizens benefiting from the project services until October 2024. The percentage of beneficiaries from the cultural and awareness intervention axis reached 661 TP3T, while 31.5 TP3T benefited from the economic empowerment axis interventions. This resulted in a noticeable improvement in demographic indicators, including a decrease in the population growth rate from 1.9 TP3T in 2018 to 1.4 TP3T in 2024, as well as a decrease in the annual number of births from 2.5 million births in 2018 to 1.97 million in 2024. The lowest population growth rate in Egypt was recorded during the first quarter of 2025 at 1.34 TP3T, compared to about 1.4 TP3T in the corresponding quarter of 2024, and 1.6 TP3T in the same quarter of 2024. 2023.
She emphasized that the Ministry is currently developing a comprehensive and integrated vision for the implementation plan for the second phase of the project, setting measurable targets and indicators consistent with national and sectoral strategies such as Egypt Vision 2030, the government's work program, relevant presidential initiatives, partnership frameworks between Egypt and development partners, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
