CAIRO, July 7 (MENA) - Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala el Saeed said that the state is determined to proceed with the development process after the coronavirus crisis ends, and giving more focus to adopting green economy and achieving food self-sufficiency, as well as supporting the health sector. During her participation in a global press conference organized by the State Information Service on Tuesday, the planning minister asserted that the economic reform program introduced in 2016 has helped the country to withstand the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The minister noted that the current crisis took its toll on supply and demand and paralyzed the sectors of tourism and aviation, as well as industrial and other sectors for months. She went on to say that remittances of Egyptian expatriates are expected to fall, given the world's current trend towards lowering workers' wages or cutting jobs. She revealed that the state invested around EGP 40 billion in the information technology sector, which benefited the education system, saying that the country would have attained an economic growth rate of 6%, had it not been for the coronavirus pandemic.

Source: Egypt Today July 08, 2020 09:11 UTC