Dr. Mohamed Maait, Minister of Finance, confirmed that the “sustainable sovereign financing framework”, which Egypt recently announced, contributes to strengthening the capabilities of “green recovery”. To achieve comprehensive and sustainable development, as the state works to attract environmentally friendly investments such as: “manufacture of electric cars or those equipped with natural gas, solar energy, green hydrogen, desalination of sea water, and generation of energy from wind,” in a way that helps improve Egypt’s competitiveness in the environmental performance index through Increase the proportion of government-funded green public investment to 50% by 2025.
The minister said, while honoring the joint ministerial working group, which includes representatives of 12 ministries; In appreciation of her fruitful efforts in launching the “Sustainable Financing Framework”, the “Egypt 2030” vision is the main strategy for achieving sustainable development, and is based on 3 main dimensions: environmental, social and economic. In a way that contributes to laying the foundations for comprehensive development in a sustainable manner, pointing out that the “Sustainable Sovereign Finance” framework team worked on completing the necessary technical data to add new categories of green projects with a social dimension within Egypt’s sustainable portfolio, which allows for the possibility of issuing green and social bonds. , sustainable and blue bonds, and bonds related to the empowerment of women, in a way that reflects the ambition of the vision of “Egypt 2030”, the updated contributions at the national level, the national strategy for climate change 2050, and the national programs for structural reform, as the “Sustainable Financing Framework for Egypt” covers axes: “clean transportation affordable infrastructure, new and renewable energy, pollution prevention and control, climate change adaptation, energy efficiency, sustainable water and sanitation management, access to basic services, and social and economic progress and empowerment.
The minister explained that he is sympathetic to the successes achieved by the joint ministerial working group; During the next stage, we look forward to a more effective role that reflects the sustainability of the quality of performance and the efficiency of accurate implementation of the desired goals, in a way that meets the requirements of sustainable development and contributes to the diversification of innovative financing tools for environmentally friendly projects that Egypt abounds in, to provide promising opportunities that are more attractive to private sector investments. In line with the “State Ownership Policy” document recently approved by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, which includes the state’s exit from 62 economic activities, allowing more room for green transformation.
The minister added that the joint ministerial working group is of particular importance. With the succession of three successive, successive and overlapping crises that caused a violent shock to the structure of the global economy, as the repercussions of the Corona pandemic, the negative effects of the war in Europe, and climate changes intertwined, and together posed unprecedented challenges, represented in the disruption of supply and supply chains, and a sharp inflationary wave that was reflected in the rise in prices. Global food and fuel, and the cost of financing, until the financing gap is increasing for emerging economies with difficulty in accessing international markets, at a time when developing countries need huge financing burdens to shift to a green economy and combat climate change in exceptional, extremely complex global circumstances.
The minister affirmed that the “sustainable sovereign financing framework” obtained a certificate of distinction for national capabilities, as a culmination of the efforts of 12 ministries in the Egyptian government, and obtained a very good sustainability quality score from Moody’s; This confirms compliance with the international standards of the principles of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA): “Green Bonds, Social Bonds, and Sustainability Bonds Guidelines,” in addition to the principles of the “Land Market Association” (LMA): “Principles of Green Loans and Principles of Social Loans.” The “Sustainable Sovereign Financing Framework” received a “distinguished” score for the criterion of contribution to sustainability.
The minister paid tribute, mixed with pride, to the joint ministerial group, which was able to provide a shining example of effective cooperation between the tributaries of distinguished government work, in a way that was reflected in achieving the desired goals with consistent professional performance in record time. For Egypt to announce to the world the “Sustainable Sovereign Financing Framework” during the “Finance Day” organized by the Ministry of Finance as part of the activities of the Climate Summit held in Sharm El-Sheikh last November.
