Fiscal Year 2024
Capacity Development Activities
Financial Supervision and Regulation (Dec 17-21)
The mission assisted the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on the development of consolidated supervision. It built on a previous mission in October 2022, which discussed the main aspects of consolidated supervision of the banking sector, including international standards and practices. The mission’s focus was on the development of internal guidelines to support CBE’s supervisors in the implementation of consolidated supervision. The guidelines set out the nature and purpose of consolidated supervision and the application of key regulatory requirements and supervisory practices and crisis preparedness. They highlight the importance of a good understanding of group structures, to construct a comprehensive view of all group risks, and to ensure that bank groups are adequately supervised in practice.
Public Financial Management (May 23-Jun 1; Dec 3-14)
A METAC scoping mission identified progress made, and challenges faced in the implementation of the new PFM law, mainly regarding Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB), Medium-Term Budget Framework (MTBF) and the production of a fiscal strategy document. A phased implementation has started but should be completed before the four-year transition period. The mission highlighted that the work done on PBB over the last three years has to be considered as a pilot phase and recommended to take stock of the lessons learned in linking the program designs to the Sustainable Development Strategy, Egypt 2030. The authorities are about to produce a Fiscal Strategy paper and implement an MTBF. The mission stressed that these reforms are useful in the context of a top-down budget process, where achieving fiscal targets is a clear priority.
In response to a request of the Ministry of Finance, a joint FAD and METAC mission supported the authorities in drafting a detailed action plan for the full implementation of the new Public Finance Law in the areas of medium-term budget framework (MTBF) and fiscal strategy paper. The Law, adopted in February 2022, includes a comprehensive array of reforms and tools aiming at reinforcing fiscal discipline, strengthening oversight mechanisms, and fostering a more efficient and effective allocation of public resources. The mission provided support on the key design elements of a Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) and MTBF that will be adopted in the coming years.
Revenue Administration (May 14-25; May 21-25)
METAC assisted the Egyptian Customs Authority (ECA) in the review of its strategic performance over the past three years, and in developing a new strategic plan for 2023-2026, including the formulation of a mission statement and SMART objectives. Specifically, METAC provided training to raise ECA staff awareness for strategic planning and strategic performance management. Several meetings, trainings, and workshops provided detailed practical advice on strategic performance and management issues. The mission proposed improvements to the strategic planning and performance measurement process. If fully embraced and resourced by the ECA leadership, improved strategic and performance management will contribute to improving overall performance of customs administration.
METAC conducted a follow-up mission to review the work accomplished by the various working groups on the implementation of the Post-Clearance Audit (PCA) programs. Progress was achieved in two of the six programs initiated during the previous mission (March 2023), namely customs valuation and tariff classification. Also, at the request of the Egyptian authorities, the mission reviewed current transfer pricing practices at the Egyptian Customs Administration (ECA). The mission made presentations on import transactions between related parties and discussed the OECD transfer pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations.
Real Sector Statistics (Sep 17-21; Dec 18-22; Jan 21-Feb1)
As part of a project to assist the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics of Egypt (CAPMAS) to implement an improved supply and use tables (SUTs) compilation process to produce 2019/20 SUTs, METAC conducted hybrid missions during July and September 2023. The missions helped with generating most of the remaining outstanding initial SUT estimates, and with integrating them into the central compilation file. CAPMAS staff are now entering in the product balancing phase of the SUT compilation.
Four national accounts staff of MPED and two staff from CAPMAS participated in a peer-to-peer activity at the High Commission Plan in Morocco. The peer-to-peer activity increased staff capacities on the full integration of annual national accounts and supply and use tables.
At the request of the Egyptian Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MPED), the mission assisted MPED with the improvement of GDP volume measurement. The mission reviewed the volume and price data available and advise on other methods of estimating the GDP by the production and expenditures approaches at constant prices. National accountants and price statisticians from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) joined the mission as prices and some volume indicators are produced and compiled by this institution. As this was Elirjeta Pepaj’s first visit in Egypt as METAC’s new regional statistics advisor, the mission visited CAPMAS offices to meet Mr. Mustapha Saad Badawi, the Head of the Economic and Mobilizing statistics and other key staff and to discuss their capacity development needs and priorities.
Anti-Money Laundering And Combating The Financing Of Terrorism AML/CFT (Sep 17-21)
Co-hosted by METAC and financed by the AML/CFT Trust Fund
Under the Egypt CD project, a mission visited Cairo to advice on strengthening risk-based AML/CFT supervision of banks and improving the effectiveness of financial investigations and other enforcement actions. The mission met with officials from a variety of authorities, notably the Central Bank of Egypt, Egypt’s financial intelligence unit, and the Public Prosecution Office. It followed a scoping mission which was conducted in March 2023 to develop a road map for the delivery of CD outputs
