·         Thanks to the political leadership support and its persistence with reform, the government's economic reform program is successfully proceeding.

·          Public debt is targeted to decrease from (1.7- 1.8 %)  to (80%) of GDP by 2020, average Income per capita and  standards of living are also sought to be improved.

·         Egypt is abound with economic potentialities that can trigger high and sustainable growth rates over the next 10 years.

·         Plans are set to enhance social safety nets and to provide more jobs.

Finance Minister, Mr. Amr Al-Garhy, confirms that the success of the government's ongoing economic and social economic program is attributed to the political leadership's continuous support and keenness to confront society with challenges of reform that remained at a standstill in pervious eras.

The implementation of economic reform program is carried out in difficult circumstances and encounters many challenges resulting from previous wrong policies that led to lack of confidence in the Egyptian economy on part of international markets and consequently sustained the State exorbitant costs, says Mr. Al-Garhy.

This came in his speech at the "Inclusive Growth and Job Creation Conference"  that was held in Cairo last Sunday and co-organized by the IMF, the Egyptian government and the Central Bank of Egypt, and inaugurated by the CBE governor and IMF First Deputy Managing Director David Lipton.

The adopted reforms aim at regaining economic stability and businessmen confidence, improving key economic indicators - those related to inflation, public debt and unemployment, in particular -  and boosting growth rates to 5 - 6%, says the minister.

Historical indictors reveal that public debt ranged between 700-800 million EGP and it was doubled 5 times over the last 5 years, with expectations to register more increases in the upcoming period, notes Mr. Al-Garhy. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance is carrying out a medium-term plan to decrease public debt from (1.7-1.8%) of GDP in prior FY 2016/2017 to 80% by 2020. This shall be achieved through narrowing total budget deficit, achieving a primary surplus by 2% of GDP, increasing average income per capita which will expectedly reflect on higher standards of living in the next FY, adds Mr. Al-Garhy.

Central Bank of Egypt is working collaboratively with the government to set a plan to narrow down public debt in attempt to curb inflation and decrease interest rates to alleviate their burden on the State budget, points out Mr. Al-Garhy, expecting a gradual decrease in interests payments down to 25% of total expense on medium term.

Raising standards of living is among significant priorities of the government and shall be achieved through enhancement of social justice nets and  creation of more appropriate jobs. On the meantime, unemployment rates has indeed gone down from 13% to 11%; and thus,  more successful economic growth must be achieved to remain on track. Thanks to Egypt's plentiful economic capabilities, an inclusive development can be realized on the different industrial, agricultural, touristic fields. Moreover, new oil and natural gas explorations can trigger more sustainable and higher growth rates over the next 10 years, stresses Mr. Al-Garhy.

In 2016, the government encountered many dilemmas due to the suspension of several reform plans scheduled over 2010-2015,  leading to a lack of foreign reserves in banks and a halt of energy subsidy rationalization plan in 2010. However, thanks to the support of political leadership and government's adopted measures, foreign currency reserves are now available via legal channels and reform plans are now continued within a framework of structural reform policies on the industrial and other economic sectors, he adds.

Among important laws being currently prepared by the government is a simplified accounting system for small taxable projects to integrate them within formal economy to reach growth rates by 10-15%. No more burdens shall be shouldered by citizens in the meantime, thus, the government works on allocating part of subsidy amounts to social safety programs and other investment programs, states the minister.

The government plans to increase Egypt's share in international trade through increasing exports especially in non-oil products whose total exports hardly reached 20 billion dollars in 2015. In addition, the government aims to support different Egyptian industries and in particular food industries in order to expand the industrial sector in Egypt that factors in GDP by 20 to 30 billion dollars annually, notes Mr. Al-Garhy.