Egypt’s PM: National housing program serves more than 240K families

CAIRO – 12 July 2020: Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli said on Sunday Al Asmarat housing project is part of a big national program aiming at developing all unsafe areas across the nation.

In statements while President Abdel Fattah El Sisi was opening several national projects, the premier said this is an integrated program that does not only seek to develop hazardous areas but also seeks to develop human beings.

The program, he said, serves more than 240,000 families that were living in slums.

This program, which was launched by President Sisi over the past six years, aims at serving ordinary Egyptians and offering good services to them.

The premier said there are new initiatives that will be launched within the coming period to serve Egyptian citizens after coronavirus pandemic and to push forward Egyptian economy.

With a population of 100 million, the State was keen while addressing coronavirus crisis to preserve the safety and health of Egyptian citizens but a the same time going ahead with production cycle, he said.

There were many calls in Egypt to apply total lockdown as was applied in other countries around the world, a measure that proved ineffective in bringing hoped-for results while addressing Covid 19 crisis, he added.

Madbouli said all international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, pointed out that the global economy is now experiencing a recession after Covid 19 pandemic.

These institutions, that once said that global growth rates in 2020 are to range between 2 to 3% , are now expecting negative growth rate after the pandemic except for Egypt, which they said will have a positive growth rate, he added.

Thanks to President Abdel Fatah El Sisi's initiatives, growth rate in 2019/2020 fiscal year is expected to be not less than 3.8 percent.

Having a diversified economy is one of the factors that helped the economy to survive during the coronavirus economy, he said.

As of February 24, the State took 334 measures to boost the economy, curb the outbreak of the virus and help badly-hit sectors, he said.

More than 10 billion pounds were pumped to boost the health sector, including raising allowance of medical teams by 75 percent, the premier added.