Égypte

Egypt’s working age population is set to expand substantially, with a rising education level, making for growth opportunities. However, employment ratios have trended down, while informality has become increasingly prevalent, particularly penalising the youth. Such trends should be reversed by creating more and better-quality jobs, thereby better integrating people into the labour market, in particular the youth. Easing rigid market regulations would boost productivity and promote formal job creation. High labour costs should be reduced, which would also bring a larger share of the working age population into formal employment. At the same time, social protection and worker support should be expanded to address labour market insecurity and obstacles to labour force participation. Education is also key to foster productivity growth and formal jobs. Ongoing reforms, notably the National Structural Reform Programme, aim at developing skills, promoting female labour force participation and expanding social benefit programmes. These important initiatives should be complemented by additional policy measures to ensure sufficient job creation and improve job quality, thereby durably raising living standards for all and improving employment prospects especially for younger generations.

Weak productivity in Egypt is rooted in deep-seated structural causes that impede market competition and prevent a more efficient resource allocation. This implies a number of challenges for economic policy to meet the objectives for long-term sustainable growth as set out in the National Structural Reform Programme, but the government is determined to tackle the issues, and is committed to increase the role of the private sector. Market mechanisms such as business entry and exit, and growth of the most efficient firms, appear to be weaker than in many similar emerging markets. Recent reforms have started to tackle heavy regulatory burdens and barriers that hinder market entry and encourage informality and should be pursued, while the judiciary system still requires improvement. Competition from abroad, and the attraction of foreign direct investment are hampered by trade barriers, implying that Egypt does not fully benefit from global value-chains and spillovers of technology and knowledge that would help lift productivity. The way state-owned companies are operating across a several sectors prevents private businesses from competing on a level playing field, although the government has recently started to take steps to level the playing field for all firms. Moreover, many businesses still face difficulties in accessing finance, as banks overwhelmingly prefer to lend to the government. Enhancing access to finance and improving digitalisation would contribute to a more competitive environment, lifting business sector growth.

This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women's economic empowerment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), in the context of elevated gender-based discrimination in social institutions – formal and informal laws, social norms, and practices. The analysis focuses on Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. Using 2023 data from the fifth edition of the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI), the paper analyses how discriminatory laws and social norms hamper women's economic empowerment. The paper also explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this discrimination. Finally, it provides policy recommendations to tackle discriminatory social institutions and address the specific needs of women and girls, both in the face of public health crises and beyond, aiming to foster more inclusive and resilient societies in the MENA region.

The 2019 Egyptian National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy is a key catalyst for digital transformation in Egypt and supports the country’s sustainable development agenda. As North Africa’s biggest economy, Egypt faces a challenging economic and demographic context, including high inflation and a high youth unemployment rate. As the first Arab and African country to adhere to the OECD Recommendation on Artificial Intelligence in 2021, Egypt has made progress in implementing the OECD AI Principles. This country review explores the state of implementation of the OECD AI Principles in Egypt by providing a mapping of Egypt’s AI governance and policy implementation through gap analysis, comparative analysis, and benchmarking. It highlights key findings and recommendations to strengthen Egypt’s AI ecosystem and facilitate the development of inclusive, responsible, and human-centric AI policies and practices that support Egypt’s development agenda and stand the test of time.

This peer review report analyses the practical implementation of the standard of transparency and exchange of information on request in Egypt, as part of the second round of reviews conducted by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes since 2016.

This report reviews Egypt's FDI statistics to assess their compatibility with the international guidelines (BPM6 and BMD4); assesses the data sources and estimation methods used; and examines both the feasibility and the usefulness of compiling additional series, such as by country of ultimate investor.

At a time when global trade is under pressure and countries increasingly turn to regional integration to support their development, this Spotlight is a timely read for policy makers and business leaders in Africa and beyond. It shows how harnessing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) can support industrialisation in Egypt, and more widely in Africa, by tapping the full potential of regional supply chains, including renewable energies, pharmaceuticals, logistics and creative industries. This report builds on and enriches the Production Transformation Policy Review of Egypt: Embracing Change, Achieving Prosperity.

Agro-food value chains hold untapped opportunities to help address the youth unemployment problem in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Expanding and strengthening domestic segments of agro-food value chains in these countries could improve the economic and social well-being of young people and their families; fulfil the demand for more and better agricultural products; and increase the capacity of their economies to face up to the interrelated challenges of optimal resource use, climate change, technological transformation, and disruption of global food value chains. This case is built around three key observations. The first observation is that Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia are in the midst of a demographic transition that can offer unprecedented socio-economic benefits, but which are yet not fully grasped. Currently, children and young people constitute over 49% of the total population in Egypt, 42% in Morocco, and 38% in Tunisia. The coming decades will continue bringing a massive influx of new young entrants into labour markets, demanding good quality jobs. Many of these young workers still live in rural areas, and the vast majority have medium or low levels of skill. Youth unemployment rates in these countries are among the highest in the world, especially for young women. Yet, these young people do aspire for better prospects than their parents did.

Young people have demonstrated resilience to shocks and led positive change in their communities across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Young people (aged under 30) constitute more than half (55%) of the population across MENA, compared with 36% of the population across OECD countries. While challenges vary significantly across the region, youth unemployment rates are among the highest in the world, young people tend to express low trust in public institutions, and nearly four in ten live in fragile and conflicted-affected areas. The COVID-19 crisis has underscored the need to place the needs of young people at the centre of an inclusive and resilient recovery. To support this process, this report analyses current governance arrangements and practices across 10  MENA governments in three areas: 1) uniting all government stakeholders to implement a shared, integrated youth policy and deliver services to young people; 2) building administrative and institutional capacities to mainstream the perspectives of young people in policy making; and 3) encouraging the participation and representation of young people and youth stakeholders in public and political life.

Cet article teste empiriquement si le fait de travailler de manière informelle peut être lié à une défiance personnelle vis-à-vis du contrat social. En tenant compte de l'hétérogénéité des travailleurs et d'une possible concomitance entre le statut d'informalité et les attitudes envers les institutions, l'article montre que les travailleurs informels ont systématiquement plus de défiance vis-à-vis du contrat social que les travailleurs formels. L'article complète la littérature existante en examinant de nombreux aspects du contrat social. Les résultats montrent que l'informalité s'avère être liée à une défiance envers les syndicats, le parlement, les services publics; à une satisfaction moins élevée à l'égard du système de santé, de la manière dont le gouvernement remplit ses fonctions, de la qualité des soins de santé et des aménagements urbains. Le document conclut sur les implications en matière de politiques publiques.

Egypt is one of Africa’s industrial heavyweights. Transforming the country's economy to sustain job-rich and sustainable growth are pivotal steps in its march towards prosperity. Today’s search for new development models, accelerated by the unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic, calls for shifting up a gear in raising Egypt’s industrial capabilities to compete in an industry 4.0 and agro 4.0 landscape. The Production Transformation Policy Review (PTPR) of Egypt uses a forward-looking framework to assess the country's readiness to embrace change. This includes an analysis of the game-changing potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and perspectives on agro-food and electronics (i.e. what in Egypt is referred to as part of the engineering sector), as well as identifying priorities for future reforms. This review is the result of government-business dialogue, and benefited from peer learning from Italy and Malaysia. It also resulted from international and multi-stakeholder knowledge sharing through a dedicated Peer Learning Group (PLG) and the OECD Initiative for Policy Dialogue on Global Value Chains, Production Transformation and Development.