Egypt allocates LE 60B for developing Upper Egypt: Minister

CAIRO – 26 July 2018: The Egyptian government allocated LE 60 billion for development programs and developing Upper Egypt in cooperation between the World Bank, according to Minister of Planning Hala el-Saeed.

This came during Saeed’s speech at the launching ceremony of the third group working on the implementation of sustainable development goals in Egyptian governorates.

Saeed stated that about LE 25 billion from the budget of the current fiscal year 2018/2019 were especially allocated for Upper Egypt, with an increase of 20 percent compared to the amount allocated in 2017/2018.

A part of the allocated amount is set for government investment aiming at the development of the southern governorates of Upper Egypt with a value of LE 10 billion, covering many sectors such as water and sanitation, development and integration of industrial zones, transport projects and roads, as well as the program of institutional development and capacity building, the minister added.

She pointed out that allocations for national development hiked 98 percent in the budget by LE 10 million, in addition to the central investments distributed among different ministries.

The minister noted that real development starts from the provinces, and not from the central level, stressing that achieving balanced growth and balanced development at the national level comes through the integration of the objectives of sustainable development at the provincial level.

Regarding the project of the sustainable development objectives, she said that the first phase of settling the project will include five provinces; which are Assiut, Sohag, Qalyubia, Qena and Minya.

The minister said earlier on Thursday that Egypt's growth rate for 2017/2018 fiscal year hit its highest level in ten years as it recorded 5.3 percent against 4.2 percent in the year before.

She added on the sidelines of the ceremony that the economic growth rate hit 5.4 percent during the third and fourth quarters of 2017/2018 fiscal year, recording the highest ever rate in the past eight years.