Egypt Economic Monitor, December 2021 : The Far-Reaching Impact of Government Digitalization
The Egyptian economy continues to show resilience through the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the macroeconomic and energy sector reforms implemented in recent years, along with measures to ease monetary conditions, provide selected sectoral support and...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/754121644245654929/Egypt-Economic-Monitor-December-2021-The-Far-Reaching-Impact-of-Government-Digitalization http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36995 |
| Summary: | The Egyptian economy continues to
show resilience through the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the
macroeconomic and energy sector reforms implemented in
recent years, along with measures to ease monetary
conditions, provide selected sectoral support and mobilize
external financing. Real GDP growth and foreign income
activities started recovering since Q4-FY2020/21. However,
global COVID-related challenges and an uneven recovery
across the world continue to restrain the rebound. Foreign
reserves remain ample, but the widened current account
deficit has increased financing requirements. Fiscal
consolidation has helped bring down the budget
deficit-to-GDP ratio. Yet, fiscal space remains constrained
by the interest burden and below-potential
revenue-mobilization. Egypt is expected to resume
pre-pandemic growth in FY2021/22 as the COVID-situation
gradually improves. Further advancement of structural
reforms is critical to sustain the recovery, drive
productivity growth and generate high-earning job
opportunities. The Focus Chapter in this report is dedicated
to the topic of government digitalization; a key priority of
the country’s national structural reform program. Egypt is
currently at a relatively elevated level of government
digitalization, according to international indices such as
the United Nations E-Government Development Index, as well
as the newly constructed World Bank GovTech Maturity Index.
For the recent digitalization efforts to realize their
potential and further enhance governance and public service
delivery, continued reforms require focus on: (1) The
roll-out of ‘end-to-end’ digital solutions (whereby digital
transformation occurs in every step throughout a given
governmental process), ensuring the integration and
inter-connectedness (inter-operability) of related
government systems, (2) Complementing digital transformation
with a continued simplification and streamlining of
government processes. (3) Strengthening the foundations of
the “Digital Economy” in Egypt is crucial to effectively
leverage technologies for a more efficient government, and
for large-scale uptake by individuals and businesses. This
will require (3-a) Continuous investments in digital
infrastructure across the country to ensure uninterrupted
availability of essential digital government services and
universal access to high quality internet, (3-b) Promotion
of digital skills, (3-c) Incentivizing use of digital
financial services, and (3-d) Ensuring an overall conducive
legal and regulatory framework for the digital
transformation of the economy. |
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