Egypt's Cabinet approves establishing Digital Egypt Fund, rationalizing investment spending for 6 months

CAIRO – 19 October 2021: The Egyptian Cabinet approved Tuesday important decisions during the government’s meeting this week, most notably the rationalization of investment spending for a period of six months, in addition to the establishment of the Digital Egypt Fund.

The cabinet reviewed the current changes in the fertilizer market, and assigned the Prime Minister to form a specialized committee to develop urgent solutions, according to a statement issued, Tuesday.

The Egyptian Cabinet approved a draft law establishing the “Digital Egypt” fund, which states that “a fund called “Digital Egypt” will be established, which will have a public legal personality.

The fund aims to activate and promote the services of the digital community, support, and develop the system’s mechanisms and ensure its sustainability, as well as supporting the various sectors of the state to implement relevant plans and initiatives and spread awareness of digital services.

According to the draft law, the fund undertakes all the necessary competencies to achieve its goals, in accordance with Article (2) of this law, and it has, in particular, to work on the sustainability of the digital identity system that allows the provision of services to citizens, in addition to supporting the localization of modern technology and digital literacy. It also works on supporting the establishment of data centers and the modernization of systems and programs that provide digital government services, in a manner that contributes to raising the efficiency of the information infrastructure.

The Fund also works to support programs for building digital capabilities and financing young innovators in the field of digital transformation, in addition to providing the services and cadres required to implement initiatives and projects, and financing technical studies for developing the information infrastructure, while at the same time supporting projects related to the Fund's work objectives.

The draft law also stipulates that the fund shall have an independent budget prepared on the pattern of the budgets of public economic bodies. The fund’s fiscal year begins with the state’s fiscal year and ends with its end, and the fund’s funds are subject to the oversight of the Central Auditing Organization.

Moreover, the cabinet approved a draft decision of the Prime Minister regarding the rationalization of investment spending in the economic development plan for the fiscal year 2021/2022 for the entities included in the state’s general budget, for a period of six months from the date of its implementation, in light of the continuation of the Corona virus pandemic, provided that the Minister of Planning issues the required necessary rules to implement the provisions of this resolution.

It also approved the mechanisms proposed by the Minister of Public Business Sector regarding how to deal and legalize the conditions on the lands of the Holding Company for Construction and Development which were taken into possession, in light of the company’s keenness to collect its dues from the third party trespassers on its lands, and to motivate them to regulate their condition; achieving social stability.

In addition, the cabinet approved two draft decisions of the President of the Republic, on two agreements for granting Egyptian-Swedish cooperation, between the Ministry of International Cooperation and the Swedish International Fund (the Development Financial Corporation of the Kingdom of Sweden), signed on August 30, and Sept. 15; the first of which is to improve the stability and efficiency of the power grid, and the second is for urban transportation and express buses.