Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly met Ahmed Rostom, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, on Sunday to review the ministry’s key priorities, including the main features of the economic and social development plan for fiscal year 2026/2027, which targets economic growth of 5.4% and total investments of EGP 3.7trn.
During the meeting, the two sides reviewed macroeconomic developments and current economic performance indicators. Rostom said the private sector is expected to account for around 59% of planned investments, reflecting the government’s commitment to expanding private-sector participation, strengthening productive capacities and supporting manufacturing industries.
Rostom also outlined the main features of the National Economic Transformation Programme for 2027-2030, which was developed based on existing sectoral strategies, the Industrial Development Strategy and the National Employment Strategy.
The programme sets out a series of priorities aimed at strengthening the national economy’s resilience to crises, enhancing mechanisms for private-sector participation and enabling businesses to compete more effectively. It also seeks to raise employment and productivity levels and create jobs that improve citizens’ living standards.
Other priorities include improving the efficiency of public and private investment allocation across governorates, strengthening public financial management, increasing energy production and efficiency, expanding domestic utilisation and exports, and establishing an effective coordination framework between the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and the ministries of Finance and Planning and Economic Development.
Rostom also reviewed the ministry’s efforts to develop legal and legislative frameworks aimed at improving the investment climate and protecting investors’ rights.
He highlighted initiatives to support entrepreneurship, startups and high-growth businesses, with the aim of strengthening their competitiveness. These efforts are being pursued alongside structural reforms outlined in the State Ownership Policy Document and the government’s initial public offering (IPO) programme, which seek to create greater scope for the private sector to drive economic growth.
The ministry is also working to expand innovative long-term financing instruments, diversify funding sources and improve liquidity to facilitate the expansion of national projects and private-sector investments. In parallel, it is pursuing efforts to broaden the tax base through digitalisation.
On human capital development, Rostom highlighted the government’s efforts to better align workforce skills with labour market needs. He referred to his recent meeting with LinkedIn officials to explore ways to strengthen cooperation in using big data to identify the skills most in demand, helping decision-makers plan workforce development more effectively.
He also pointed to an expanded meeting with a delegation from ESLSCA University to discuss renewing and broadening the scientific and training partnership between the government and the university. The partnership focuses on qualifying and training leaders and employees of state administrative bodies.
The discussions build on the results of the existing partnership, which has provided 1,500 scholarships for young government leaders to pursue a Master of Government Business Administration degree. The initiative has also helped attract new talent to the state’s administrative apparatus.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Rostom stressed that developing human capabilities, leadership and management skills remains central to improving government performance and supporting institutional development.