Despite record lending from the World Bank and years of rapid economic growth in Egypt, the proportion of Egyptians living in absolute poverty has steadily increased. As the World Bank shifts its attention and resources to privatizing state institutions, the rising gap between rich and poor demands that civil society hold donors to their poverty reduction mandates.
Egypt is the largest recipient of lending from the international financial institutions (IFIs) in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, reaching around $6.5 billion over the last five years, or a quarter of all IFI lending to the region.
As Egypt faces a number of pressing development challenges, including high unemployment, severe food price hikes and rising poverty, the IFIs are encouraging Egypt to lower government subsidies on energy, expand the retrenchment of civil servants, and increase the regressive sales (VAT) tax. Aimed at reducing government expenditure, these reforms would disproportionately affect the poor and raise the cost of living.
Considering the extent of IFI lending in the country, BIC's Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Program has identified Egypt as one of the key countries in the region where civil society engagement is necessary to monitor the activities and projects of the World Bank and other IFIs.
Following an outreach visit to Cairo in October 2007, BIC has worked with local civil society organizations in monitoring and engaging the World Bank to make their voices and demands heard. These interactions have led to some early successes in ensuring access to documents at local World Bank offices and strengthening local consultation processes.
Download BIC's country study for NGOs to find out more about the work of the IFIs in Egypt:
See BIC's latest list of projects the IFIs are currently preparing in Egypt: