The money the Egyptian government pumps into social protection increased from EGP198.6 billion (about $12 billion) in FY2014-15 to EGP327.7 billion (about $19.8 billion) in 2019-20, the planning minister, Hala El-Saied (pictured) announced in a report. This makes an improvement by 65% over the 5-year period.

Between the two periods, Egypt dedicated a total of EGP1,300 billion (about $78.5 billion) for pro-poor programs including EGP103 billion for “Decent Life”; a program recently launched by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to give vulnerable populations a better life.

According to the report, all the welfare investments helped drop unemployment rate to 8.1% during the third quarter of FY2018-19. Inflation rate also shrunk to a bearable 8.9% in June 2019, against 34.2% in July 2017.

André Chadrak