Egypt.. The government postpones “dollar projects” to rationalize public spending

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly issued a package of decisions to “rationalize public spending” and postpone “dollar projects,” at a time when the country is facing a tangible shortage of foreign exchange reserves. According to a government statement on Monday, Madbouly’s decisions included postponing the implementation of any new projects that have not been started and have a “clear dollar component.”

In addition to the need for the Ministry of Finance to approve aspects of disbursement in foreign currency after coordination with the Central Bank, while “postponing disbursement on any needs that do not bear the nature of extreme necessity.” The decisions included rationalizing all travel activities related to government agencies and public and economic bodies outside the country “except for extreme necessity and after the approval of the Prime Minister.”

Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine last February, hundreds of millions of dollars have left Egypt for foreign investors, amid an escalating wave of inflation that led to successive rises in prices, with the decline in the value of the Egyptian pound against the dollar (27.60 pounds to the dollar).