Investments in Egypt's ICT sector to hit LE67.1B in FY 2022/23

 

H.E. Dr. Hala El-Said, Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, said that the communications and information technology sector plays an imperative and major role in promoting the elements of sustainable development, by providing it with modern knowledge and information that motivate and guide investment, production, and operating decisions.

 

El-Said explains that the (FY 2022/2023) plan is intended to direct investments amounting to EGP 67.1 billion for the communications and information technology sector, compared to EGP 58.2 billion for investments expected by the end of the previous year 2022/21, with a growth rate of 15%.

 

 

The percentage of sector investments to the total investments in the plan reaches 5%.

 

Regarding the objectives of the communications and information technology sector in the (FY 2022/2023) plan, the Ministry of Planning’s report indicated that the sector’s production is expected to increase by about 20% at current prices, and by 14.3% at constant prices.

 

About output, it was projected to increase by approximately 21% at current prices, and 14.4% at consistent prices. This will result in a contribution rate of 2.9% and 3%, based on GDP.

 

The report indicated that the strategic objectives of the sector's development vision revolve around interacting with the data of the digital age. This is because technological developments are steadily and rapidly accelerating.

 

The most significant of these strategic goals is to develop and modernize the information infrastructure and digital content, to complete and develop the first and second phases of the Knowledge City, to develop and activate the use of modern technology, and to build an integrated information society capable of maximizing the use of the communications infrastructure.

 

 

Additionally, the strategy seeks to invest in the latest technological solutions, develop the communications and information industries, enhance local manufacturing of electronics to increase added value, establish technology parks to widen new horizons for investment, raise the efficiency of public agencies and bodies, and develop existing systems to provide better citizen service.

 

It also includes the strategic objectives of the sector in developing cooperation programs with international companies and international organizations. These programs will increase the efficiency of the state's administrative apparatus by providing the latest software at competitive prices from companies working in the field of information technology.

 

The sector's strategic objectives include developing the sector's activities to raise its contribution to GDP from 2.5% in the year of the plan to reach 5% within two years.

 

The strategy also seeks to develop exports of outsourcing services and electronic products to exceed $6 billion, compared to $3.5 billion in 2021/2022, in addition to increasing the share of technological exports in total merchandise exports to 5%, compared to 2.5%-3% in 2021/2022.

 

As the communications and information technology sector experienced tangible achievements in the year 2021, it also underwent a major transformation to complete the large projects currently being implemented. These include digitization, the development of communications infrastructure, and the expansion of digitized government services provided to citizens through the Digital Egypt platform.

 

Moreover, the industry was able to increase Internet speeds through huge investments, and high-frequency mobile telecommunications contributed to the increase in mobile data transmission services in 2022.

 

The sector's most significant achievements during 2021 were represented by its impressive growth rate, which reached 16% in 2021/20, up from 15.2% in 2020/19.

 

Achievements also included the growth of the value of digital exports from $4.1 billion in 2019/2020 to $4.5 billion in 2020/21. The achievements were reflected in improving Egypt's position on the digital world map.

 

An indication of this is that Egypt is among the 10 fastest-growing countries for digital inclusion.

 

According to the report issued by the Roland Berger Foundation, Egypt advanced 43 places in the mobile e-wallets regulatory index issued by the International Mobile Networks Association (GSMA) for the year 2020, becoming 36th among 90 countries that adopt this type of service worldwide. Compared to 79th place in 2019.

 

It also ranked fourth out of the 29 African countries included in the index, according to a report by The Economist magazine's research unit.

 

Cairo also ranked first in Africa in terms of attracting foreign direct investment, according to the “The Future of Technology and Business Environment in Africa 2021/2022” report issued by FDI Intelligence affiliated with the Financial Times.

 

Egypt also ranked first in the Middle East and Africa region, and 15th in the world in the “Global Service Locations Index” issued by the “Kearney International Consulting Foundation” for the year 2021.