Private sector must create at least 700k jobs a year in Egypt -IMF’s Lall
Egypt’s private sector needs to create at least 700k jobs every year if the country is to meet the needs of its “rapidly growing and young population and improve living standards,” the IMF’s Egypt Mission Chief, Subir Lall, said yesterday. “Job creation at this scale has to be led by the private sector, and in particular it is new companies and small and medium enterprises that have been successful in creating jobs on this scale across both advanced and emerging and developing economies,” he told the media delegation accompanying AmCham on its Doorknock mission to Washington, DC. While it’s no easy feat, Lall said that the “experience of countries over the past several decades has shown that this is achievable with a sustained reform effort.”
Fostering entrepreneurship is key to progress. Egypt has already come a long way since the government began taking measures almost two years ago to correct “past macroeconomic imbalances” and the economy now stands “on a sound foundation which can be built upon to broaden the scope of reforms,” Lall said. He stressed the importance of pressing ahead with reforms that are carefully crafted to create the sort of environment that can sustain small enterprises and help them grow into larger ventures, which would drive job creation and ultimately help improve living standards.