This Palgrave Pivot, in light of the new conditions, the new realities and the essential new “unknowns” abruptly thrown up by the COVID-19 pandemic, offers pragmatic policy prescriptions to Egyptian decision-makers as a road map to guide them in steering the country out of crisis and toward a better future for the Egyptian people. Egypt is the world’s 14th largest country by population but ranks only 44th globally with regards to its GDP (in 2019 nominal US$ terms). The mismatch between Egypt’s population size and GDP rank highlights a key concern of this work – that in spite of notable achievements in certain areas and the success of the recently-concluded IMF program, the country remains far from achieving its economic potential. Throughout its modern era, the country has lagged behind in household income, social welfare, productivity and many other markers of twenty-first century economic success even vis-à-vis other developing country peers.

This book focuses on framing the optimal macroeconomic policy agenda for Egypt in the face of the big global, regional and national forces that are being accelerated, intensified or changed by the COVID-19 crisis rather than on specific sectoral policy formulations. The authors present these big questions in the context of showing how Egypt can best navigate the risks and seize the opportunities of the current period of intense flux and transition, to put itself in the best possible position to create prosperity, stability, and hope for its citizens. The authors examine to what extent the Egyptian authorities can fulfill their ambitious development plans and in producing this work, to provide useful lessons that can be applied to other governments struggling to respond to the challenges of the age.