USAID MESR PROJECT YEAR THREE QUARTER ONE REPORT

The project is designed to support the Government of Egypt's (GOE) reform efforts included in the GOE's agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The reforms aim to address macroeconomic imbalances that negatively impact the ability of enterprises to grow and become more competitive. The project's primary objectives are to improve public investment planning, implementation, and monitoring, and to upgrade the effectiveness of public financial management. The project's primary counterparts are the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MPED) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF). MESR engages with other stakeholders and counterparts, including parliamentarians, business associations, civil society organizations, and other GOE agencies and international organizations working on activities related to macroeconomic stabilization. The project's activities are well-coordinated and flexible, leveraging one another to gain momentum for reforms and maximize the potential for success and sustainability. In Year Three, Quarter One, MESR continued to support its counterparts to improve Egypt's macroeconomic practices. Given the increased need for macroeconomic support due to COVID-19-related impacts, MESR demonstrated its adaptive response in adjusting its work to address the GOE's most pressing needs. During Q1, MESR continued to establish and strengthen a robust process for effective public investment planning, implementation, and monitoring under Objective One. MESR supported transparency and improved citizen engagement by launching the MPED's new interactive website. MESR enhanced public investments' process flows by developing and improving the monitoring and evaluation component of the Integrated System for Investment Plan Preparation and Management (ISIPPM). To support continuity and sustainability of capacity building initiatives, MESR utilized a Training of Trainers (ToT) approach and trained approximately 25 trainers from different sectors of MPED on soft and technical skills to create a reliable cadre of trainers inside MPED. MESR strengthened the GOE's ability to monitor and evaluate its capital investment projects against their contributions to Egypt Vision 2030 goals and objectives. During Q1, MESR finalized and deployed its field monitoring template on electronic tablets that will be used during field visits to investment projects. MESR also developed desk screens for the spending agencies to submit data on ongoing and accomplished projects under their supervision. These two components of monitoring are complimentary, with the desk monitoring identifying the public investment projects to be inspected during field monitoring. Further strengthening government transparency and citizen consultation and oversight, MESR supported the MPED to launch the citizen engagement application, Sharek 2030, to integrate citizen opinions in the planning process and publish the main results of the monitoring system. The first of its kind in Egypt, Sharek is an application that presents public investment projects to the public, where citizens can also submit suggestions to the government on needed investment projects. During the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, MESR has adapted its assistance to its counterparts based on changing priorities and needs under both Objectives One and Two. MESR delivered a presentation about fiscal stimulus packages to address negative impacts of COVID-19. MESR submitted an update to the MPED on these international best practices to address COVID-19 repercussions every two weeks, which founded the basis for the Egyptian Cabinet's decision making and was also submitted to the Presidency. MESR also contracted the Economist's Economic Intelligence Unit to draft scenarios analysis for six main variables in the Egyptian economy, including real GDP growth rate, consumer price index, exchange rate, public budget balance, unemployment, and current account balance. Furthermore, MESR provided a report to MPED on COVID-19's impact on the tourism sector, incorporating COVID-19's impact on the global economy and tourism and a situational analysis of Egypt's tourism sector during the pandemic. The study included scenarios on the pandemic's impact on the sector and proposed short- and medium-term recovery roadmaps. In addition, MESR developed a policy tracker that acts as a dynamic database for all COVID-19-related measures, tools, and procedures taken by the GOE since the onset of COVID-19. MESR integrated the tracker, updated daily, into the MPED's new website, providing important transparency and information on Egypt's ongoing efforts to address and mitigate the impact of COVID-19. MPED Minister Dr. Hala El Saeed reported the tracker's launch to the President of Egypt and heralded it as an important achievement in her talk at the UN. The National Council of Women praised the tracker for increasing access to information at a critical time. MESR also organized an MOF roundtable jointly with the American Chamber of Commerce to provide a forum for the MOF to summarize the current economic situation in Egypt, engage with leaders of U.S. businesses in Egypt, and solicit their input on policies to promote economic development in Egypt post-COVID-19. This will become a regular event to gather important stakeholder input on economic policy development in Egypt. Additionally, MESR provided communications support regarding the outbreak of COVID-19, including three digital