Al-Mashat made her comments on Monday during her participation in the 7th edition of the ‘CEO Thoughts Conference’, which kicked off on Sunday in Cairo.

The conference sheds light on how the Egyptian economy can mitigate the effects of a global recession.

These agreements provide banks operating in the Egyptian market with finances to on-lend small- and medium-sized enterprises, offer direct investments for companies and finance Egypt’s first private sector-led green bonds — which were issued by the Commercial International Bank in 2021 — according to the minister.

Al-Mashat also pointed out the development policy finances Egypt has obtained from the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank with a total value of $750 million that aims to support the state’s sustainable and inclusive economic recovery efforts.

“This would be achieved through three key pillars; enhancing overall financial stability, fostering private sector participation in the country’s development efforts through financial and digital inclusion, and pushing forward women’s empowerment through regulatory and legislative reforms,” the minister explained.

Al-Mashat also noted that despite the global demand increase on global financing resources — especially low-cost finances during the past two years — Egypt’s ambitious development plans have enabled the government to conclude development financing agreements amounting to $9.8 billion in 2020 covering various economic sectors.

She added that the development financing factsheet for 2021 will be announced soon.

The minister also touched upon the role the government plays to support entrepreneurs, noting that the company ‘Egypt Ventures’ has invested in more than 174 start-ups since its inception in 2017.

Egypt Ventures is Egypt’s first venture capital company to be established with a public contribution with a total capital of EGP 451 million. The Minister of International Cooperation and the General Authority For Free Zones and Investments are its main contributors.

During the event, the CEO of Egypt’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Ayman Soliman revealed that the fund is about to create a sub-fund for investing in the education sector, adding that the fund currently has five sub-funds focused on the same purpose.