Egypt seeks to issue bonds for sustainable development

CAIRO – 5 April 2021: Ministry of Finance is studying the issuance of bonds for sustainable development, and to benefit from Mexico's experience in this offering, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait announced Monday.

Maait added during a conference held in Cairo, that the government aims to continue expanding modern financing tools in the field of sustainable development, especially that Egypt was the leader in launching government green bonds in the Middle East and North Africa region in 2020 with an amount of $750 million to finance or refinance projects with the aim of preserving a green and sustainable economy.

He also indicated that the government is working to implement a comprehensive health insurance system in four governorates during the fiscal year 2021-2022, in a way that contributes to providing comprehensive health care for citizens.

He added that the government increased the size of conditional cash transfer programs, "Takaful and Dignity", to cover more than 3.6 million families.

Maait noted that the government is also working with non-governmental organizations to ensure good targeting of social protection programs and the inclusion of all categories of first-care, so that these programs include providing food and basic needs for isolated villages and marginalized groups that are not covered by the "Takaful and Dignity" program, in addition to providing medical and health products to the most vulnerable and poor villages.