With key targets of boosting job creation and pushing forward the country’s economic development, the Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation launched Egypt’s Narrative for Economic Development last week under the auspices of Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli and in collaboration with the ministries of investment, transport and industry, and finance.
The document will be available for community dialogue for two months, and the final draft including feedback will be released in December.
It comes in response to directives by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to design a national economic narrative focusing on charting a map for the Egyptian economy through 2030 and taking into account domestic factors as well as the unprecedented geopolitical landscape, Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat told Al-Ahram Weekly.
The ministry supervised the preparation of the new narrative document based on Law of National Planning 18/2022 and Law 6/2022 on Unified Public Finance .
“These laws mandate the ministry to define the state’s strategic objectives across all sectors for the fiscal year and the medium-term budgetary framework, prioritise their implementation, and set up a comprehensive planning system that aligns with macroeconomic policy,” Al-Mashat said, adding that government entities are also required to coordinate with the Planning Ministry to establish performance indicators for programmes, subprogrammes, activities, and projects.
The National Economic Development Narrative is a comprehensive framework designed to align the government’s action plan with Egypt Vision 2030 amid rapid regional and global changes. Its goal is to sustain economic reform, focus on high-productivity sectors with strong export potential, and leverage Egypt’s upgraded infrastructure as a base for industrialisation, investment, and redefining the state’s role in the economy to enhance competitiveness and encourage private-sector participation.
“We can build on the massive advancement the country’s infrastructure has witnessed over the past 10 years to focus on the non-tradable sectors for economic development in Egypt,” Al-Mashat said, pointing out that these sectors include energy, agriculture, tourism, information and communication technology (ICT), and manufacturing.
“All these sectors represent a priority for the government through 2030,” Al-Mashat stressed.
During the launch event of the Narrative, held in the New Administrative Capital, Madbouli affirmed that it is designed to chart a path for the Egyptian economy after the completion of the current Extended Fund Facility (EFF) loan programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Egypt’s EFF, signed in December 2022, got off to a slow start but was reinvigorated in 2024 with the implementation of reforms by the government. It is scheduled to come to a close in around a year’s time.
The launch of the Narrative comes a few days ahead of the arrival of the IMF mission to Cairo, anticipated later this month, for discussion on the completion of the fifth and sixth reviews of the EFF programme, along with the completion of the first review of the newly approved Resilience and Sustainability (RSF) $1.3 billion loan programme.
It draws on the National Structural Reform Programme and focuses on three pillars: reinforcing macroeconomic stability, improving competitiveness and the business environment, and supporting the green transition, explained Al-Mashat.
It also integrates strategies on foreign direct investment (FDI), industrial development, foreign trade, and employment to boost labour market efficiency, she added.
“Shifting regional and international dynamics necessitated an integrated economic reform programme that connects the government’s action plan with sectoral strategies and Vision 2030. The new Narrative fulfills this need by translating structural reform priorities into a measurable set of targets,” she said.
According to the minister, the Narrative provides a new growth model that prioritises private-sector empowerment as the main driver of growth and job creation, while channelling resources into tradable sectors to strengthen competitiveness amid rapid shifts in the global economy and persistent structural challenges.
The model rests on three pillars; macroeconomic stability as a foundation for sustainable growth, structural transformation towards tradable sectors, and redefining the state’s role in the economy to enable private-sector leadership.
Under the Narrative, Egypt targets raising the share of private investments in total investments to 66 per cent by 2030, up from 60 per cent in the current fiscal year 2025-26. The share of private investments in GDP is also projected to increase to 11.9 per cent in 2030, compared to 9.1 per cent in the current fiscal year. Moreover, the contribution of the private sector to GDP is expected to rise to 82 per cent by 2030, up from 77.1 per cent in 2024-2025.
Empowering the private sector through raising its share in national economic activity is a cornerstone of the IMF’s $8 billion EFF programme with Egypt. During the recent event, Al-Mashat revealed that a State Ownership Policy Index is being developed to track progress in empowering the private sector and reshaping the state’s role in the economy. According to the Narrative, Egypt eyes seven per cent real GDP growth by 2030.
The Narrative includes five main chapters. The first focuses on achieving macroeconomic stability through disciplined fiscal and monetary policies to build confidence and create a favourable investment climate. The second taps FDI as a tool to bridge financing gaps, localise knowledge, attract global value chain integration, and create high-productivity jobs. The third addresses industrial development and foreign trade by integrating strategies on FDI, industry, and trade to build a competitive, export-oriented economy.
Labour-market efficiency is the subject of the fourth chapter, which focuses on emphasising FDI-driven job creation and future skills development. The fifth chapter revolves around regional planning through aligning national strategies with spatial priorities to close development gaps and enhance competitiveness across governorates.
The Narrative also details fiscal and monetary policy measures, public investment governance reforms, and sector-specific strategies in energy, ICT, tourism, agriculture, and mining to drive structural transformation and strengthen Egypt’s position as a regional hub for energy and green growth.
To achieve its targets, it outlines a list of sector-specific structural reforms tied to clear timelines. These reforms aim to support growth and employment while creating a cohesive economic reform and development agenda.
The Narrative underscores Egypt’s ambition to emerge as a regional hub for investment, green energy, and innovation, laying the groundwork for long-term resilience as global competition intensifies, Al-Mashat concluded.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 11 September, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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