Ahmed Kouchouk, Minister of Finance, stressed that achieving sustainable development requires huge budgets, and this requires everyone’s solidarity to achieve tangible results, explaining that the high cost of financing is still the biggest obstacle to sustainable development initiatives and programs in developing and African countries.
The minister said, at the eighth session of the special meeting of government experts and finance and development experts at UNCTAD headquarters in Geneva, that we look forward to a more equitable global economic system, and responsive to the financing and development needs of African countries, pointing out that there must be a more flexible global framework for innovative financing to make large financial resources available. At lower cost and favorable terms for emerging economies.
The minister added that international challenges and climate changes have added pressing burdens, and innovative financing tools should be considered to reduce the burdens on emerging countries, including: converting debts into investments, noting that it is important to expand the use of guarantees and other tools to reduce the costs of development financing for developing countries.
The minister explained that Egypt is keen to diversify financing tools and markets to expand the investor base and reduce debt burdens, and we have had a good experience in the Asian markets after our success in offering panda and samurai bonds.
He pointed out that we are working to build a relationship of “trust and partnership” with the business community to expand the tax base and improve the services provided to financiers, and that the first package of tax facilities advances the state’s efforts aimed at reducing the financial burdens on investors.
