The Egyptian government succeeded through the economic reform program in alleviating the repercussions of the COVID-19, according to a report issued by the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) on the efforts exerted by the government during the coronavirus pandemic.
The report indicated that the pandemic's negative effects could have been much worse had the government not taken many economic measures to mitigate its repercussions.
After reviewing the report, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stressed that the Egyptian government is proactively engaged in raising the standards of living in light of the adoption of economic and social reform programs to promote the national economy.
The government also worked on reducing inflation rates and financial deficit while promoting the growth rates and the value of the local currency to attract more investments, according to Madbouly.
The Prime Minister pointed out that, while the government was reaping benefits of the economic reform, the ongoing pandemic has caused negative global health, economic, and social repercussions.
He added that the Egyptian government was keen to improve the healthcare system before the pandemic, explaining that this sector has always been a priority.
The government has worked on developing a preventive program since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country, raising citizen awareness to curb the spread of the virus.
IDSC Head Osama el-Gohari said on Saturday that one of the reports tackled the repercussions of the COVID-19 on the oil and natural gas sectors and the impacts of the global oil crisis on the Egyptian energy market.
Gohari explained that the government’s plan to increase prevention and control the virus is based on developing the health sector, providing sterilization and disinfection tools, and raising awareness on how to avoid being exposed to the virus.
He also referred to the economic measures taken by the government to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus, especially on the most vulnerable sectors.
Many measures were adopted by the government to help limit the virus' spread, especially as employees returned to their workplace, such as reducing numbers of workers in their private or public workplaces and expanding the social protection network to include irregular employment, according to Gohari.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday it had reached a one-year agreement with Egypt, a $5.2 billion standby loan to help the country grapple with the novel coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout.
The agreement would safeguard economic gains achieved by Egypt over the past three years and put the country on strong footing for a sustained recovery, the IMF said.
