Recent Changes in the Institutional

On 23 January 2020, the Prime Minister issued decree No. 193 of 2020 detailing the competencies of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development following the most recent change in the ministry’s role by virtue of the Cabinet reshuffle that took place in December 2019. The most important result of this move in the context of planning and administrative development was the removal of the ‘administrative reform’ file from the scope of the Ministry of Planning and placing it under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister. This step was said to have been taken in order to expedite results on the administrative reform file although it remains unclear if that was the main objective.

Background

As part of the last Cabinet reshuffle on 22 December 2019, the Prime Minister has recalled the ‘investment’ and ‘administrative reform’ files from the Ministry of Investment and the Ministry of Planning Monitoring & Administrative Reform respectively. One of the effects of this change was the renaming of the latter ministry to the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development. This shift in the ministry’s title and functions is not the first in its history. In fact, since the major reshuffle in cabinet files which took place in 2004, the ministries of Planning, Administrative Development/Reform, Local Development, and International Cooperation have all seen the mixing of their roles and the combining of their files and employees several times.[1] Historically, a ministry of planning has existed in Egypt in some form since the 1950s, albeit with significant changes in its role since that time. Today the Ministry’s role is imperative as it only increases in importance in the context of Egypt’s ambitious sustainable development goals that are part of a bigger global movement. Of the important bodies that fall under the Ministry’s scope are the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (“CAPMAS”), the Institute of National Planning (“INP”), the Cairo Demographic Centre (“CDC”), and the National Investment Bank (“NIB”). CAPMAS is the state’s official statistics body in charge of gathering data on a national level in order to support planning, decision-making, and evaluation. It issues periodic reports containing the national numbers on economic indicators such as income, spending, consumption, labour, external trade, and the prices of commodities and building material, to name a few. INP and CDC have educational roles, including research and training to support the functions of the Ministry of Planning, with the focus of CDC being demographics and population. Meanwhile, NIB was established to finance projects that are part of the state’s plan for economic and social development. It has stakes in several companies operating in different economic sectors such as fertilizers, oil, financial services, and food industry. With the absorption of the files of administrative reform and development, the Ministry of Planning also took on the Central Agency for Organization & Administration (“CAOA”).[2] CAOA has an increasingly important role in the implementation of the goals of the state’s administrative reform program including improving government administration systems and performance, and improving civil service. In this respect, the Civil Service Law No. 81 of 2016 names CAOA as the body in charge of the supervision of its application. In recent years, the Ministry has also been in charge of several significant files such as the monitoring of the implementation of Egypt’s digital transformation plan as part of the administrative reform agenda. In 2018, the Prime Minister issued decree No. 1893 of 2018,[3] clearly defining the competencies of the Ministry’s deputies in charge of the files of planning and administrative reform separately:

• Planning

The deputy in charge of planning was tasked with implementing the state’s “Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030 (SDS)”;[4] developing a unified and comprehensive mechanism for monitoring and evaluation; monitoring national economic and social performance including the implementation of the Ministry’s annual plan for economic and social development; and defining performance obstacles and developing strategies to eliminate them, to name a few.

• Administrative Reform

The Ministry’s deputy for administrative reform was placed in charge of setting plans and programs for administrative development; improving the efficiency of the state’s administrative bodies; drafting and proposing enabling legislation and a survey of all civil service related regulations with the aim of eliminating conflicting provisions; enhancing the capacity of human resources in government entities in cooperation with CAOA in addition to national training and educational bodies; enhancing government performance and spending; facilitating government services and government service systems; and creating citizen feedback channels. In 2018, the Ministry of Planning announced eight main goals for its administrative reform agenda:[5]

1. Moving ministries to the new administrative capital;
2. Restructuring of the state’s administrative units;
3. Drafting legislation in support of the business environment;
4. Establishing auditing and review units;
5. The separation of planning from monitoring;
6. Increasing the use of electronic payment;
7. Employing advanced digital and IT systems;
8. Implementing the training grants program.

Prime Ministerial Decree No. 193 Issued on 23 January 2020[6]

Following the recent separation of the planning and administrative reform files, the Prime Minister has issued decree No. 193 of 2020 (the “Decree”) in order to define the competencies of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development in its new capacity. Under ‘planning’, the Ministry is in charge of developing short-, medium-, and long-term development plans, and streamlining the implementation of sectoral strategies with development strategies and national state budget. The Ministry was also put in charge of the implementation of the Law for the Preparation of the State’s National Plan, and evaluating the annual investment plans of administrative bodies, while synergizing central, regional, and local investment plans. In the ‘economic development’ file, the Ministry is tasked with developing and following up on the implementation of “Egypt Vision 2030 (SDS)” in collaboration with relevant state bodies, as well as the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals,[7] and Africa’s 2063 Agenda.[8] The Ministry is also in charge of defining comprehensive economic development goals and suggesting the economic policy to implement them; increasing economic productivity through comprehensive and sectoral reforms; proposing draft legislation for achieving the state’s economic development goals; and reviewing the optimal utilization of state assets with a view on capitalizing profits in addition to increasing private sector participation in economic sectors, and supporting entrepreneurship and innovation; and reviewing the state’s financing needs in collaboration with relevant state bodies. The Decree further states that the Minister of Planning and Economic Development shall be in charge of CAPMAS, and that the Ministry is to ratify its organizational structure after consulting with CAOA.

Conclusion

Over the years, the Ministry of Planning has seen several changes to the files it manages and the functions it performs in a manner that is likely to disrupt the envisioned purposes of the Ministry as the developer and supervisor of the implementation of short-, medium-, and long-term state strategies. For one, under the new structure it is unclear whether the Ministry’s role in monitoring and evaluation will continue to be undertaken by the Ministry in both its planning and economic development functions. In addition, in the state’s efforts to keep up with global trends in the field of sustainable development, several policies, strategies, and legislative texts are devised without any evaluation of the continuity of these plans. Instead of the many institutions and committees that are established in order to develop and follow up on the implementation of the myriad of state plans, it might be better to simplify these processes and limit the number of implementing bodies.   [1] To name just a few examples, in 2005, the ministries of Planning and Local Development were combined into one ministry, after which they were separated again in 2006 into a Ministry of Local Development and a Ministry of Economic Development containing the ‘planning’ file. In 2011, the Ministry of Administrative Development was cancelled altogether, and the Ministry of Planning resurfaced and was combined with the Ministry of International Cooperation. In 2014, a ministry was created combining Local development and Administrative Development, and later the Ministry of Planning was combined with the Ministry of Administrative Development forming the Ministry of Planning Monitoring & Administrative Reform  before the most recent change in December 2019, which moved the ‘administrative reform’ file to the Prime Minister. [2] Prime Ministerial Decree No. 1234/2014 defining the competencies of the Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform including the supervision of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration, Official Gazette, Issue No. 28 (bis), 14 July 2014. [3] Prime Ministerial Decree 1893/2018 defining the roles of the Ministry of Planning’s Deputy of Administrative Reform and the Ministry’s Deputy of Planning, Official Gazette, Issue No. 38 (bis), 26 September 2018. [4] Egypt’s Sustainable Development Strategy: 2030 Vision, available through this link (in Arabic). [5] News article referring to an announcement by the ministry of planning on its social media page, available through this link (in Arabic). [6] Prime Ministerial Decree No. 193/2020 defining the competencies of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, Official Gazette, Issue 4 (bis), 23 January 2020. [7] The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals: 2030 Agenda, available through this link. [8] Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, available through this link.