The world is experiencing many crises and rapid changes as a result of geopolitical tensions, slow growth rates, and the risks of climate change, which impose major challenges on various economies around the world, especially in light of rising global inflation and energy challenges. The Egyptian government has adopted a package of strategies and plans over the past years to reduce the effects of these repercussions on the economy, but despite these efforts, the Egyptian economy still faces some challenges that require searching for new and innovative solutions, so that it can withstand these crises.

In this context, Canada Egypt Business Council and the Egyptian Business Council for International Cooperation held a forum entitled: “Managing the Economy in a Changing World” featuring; Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin; UN Special Envoy for Financing Sustainable Development.

In his introductory remarks, Mr. Motaz Raslan; chairman of CEBC and ECIC mentioned that Egypt has faced many global and regional challenges that caused a decrease in the rate of growth, high inflation rates and hard currency shortages, which had a significant impact on the economy and Egypt’s evaluation of credit rating institutions.

“Therefore, the Egyptian state adopted a package of plans and procedures and carried out a number of bold structural reforms that began with liberalizing the exchange rate, expanding the umbrella of social protection, developing infrastructure, establishing a number of new cities, and working to reduce the budget deficit to change the view of international institutions towards Egypt’s credit rating, the last of which was raising the Fitch agency. Egypt’s credit rating for the first time since 2019 went from B negative to B with a stable future outlook, in a certificate confirming that the Egyptian economy is moving on the right path despite the crises that  surrounding the area” Mr. Motaz said.

Then he continued saying that “But despite all these efforts and plans, the Egyptian economy still faces many challenges that require continued work and searching for innovative solutions in order to continue its launch to achieve sustainable development.

In this context, we are pleased to welcome Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, the United Nations envoy to finance sustainable development, one of the most important flags and symbols of the Egyptian economy, and we thank him for fulfilling the invitation and sharing our dialogue on the future and opportunities of the Egyptian economy in light of the changes facing the global economy”.

Then the floor was given to Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin; UN Special Envoy for Financing Sustainable Development, affirmed his complete agreement with all the important initiatives that are directed to support the sectors of industry, tourism and small and medium enterprises, as well as support that goes to production, export and the poor by them, provided that this is done through the state budget.

He added that we need to change the development model, rely more on the private sector, and improve and develop the tax system, stressing that the economic system must be a profit generator while including private funds and unifying the budget.

During the symposium, he stressed that despite all the existing challenges that Egypt is going through, there are no intractable or unsolvable crises, pointing out that the International Monetary Fund program can be relied upon in part, but development and growth are more comprehensive than that.

He pointed to the issue of in-kind and cash support raised, stressing that under the current circumstances it is not a good idea to replace an applied and well-known system with a new system unless you are reassured that it has the ability to achieve the target. Stressing that you should not replace something known with something ambiguous, and that it must continue for basic commodities.

At that point, the floor was opened for guests to share their questions and engage in discussions.