This review was carried out by the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (PIE) Division of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), supporting the Committee on Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE). This review was prepared by Won Hee Cho and Ilaria Goretti, with substantial research input from Nada Hazem, under the supervision and guidance of Andrew Green (Team Lead) and Guy Lalanne (Head of PIE Division). This project began under the guidance of Chiara Criscuolo and Francesco Manaresi, whose efforts were key to getting the project underway. Ali Alsamawi and Márcio Carvalho provided invaluable assistance during the initial phase of the project. Abdelrahman Hassanein provided excellent research assistance and Chahir Zaki provided insightful comments.
Additional statistical, analytical and empirical support from Hélène Dernis, Antton Haramboure, Costa Hélder, Clara Kögel, Akash Kohli, Michel Lioussis, Colin Webb, and Norihiko Yamano were warmly appreciated. Administrative and technical support from Charles-Édouard Van De Put and Shai Somek was indispensable.
This review benefitted from the feedback of Fares Al Hussami (DAF), Julien Dupont (SDD), Matteo Fiorini (TAD), Frederic Gonzales (TAD), Yoshuke Jin (ECO), Alan Paic (STI), and Jonathan Potter (CFE). Neil Bouwer and Stefano Costa from the Advisory Board also provided helpful comments.
The project also greatly benefitted from three workshops organised by the OECD Secretariat in collaboration with international experts, aimed at strengthening Egypt’s micro-data. Special thanks to Monica Canafoglia (UNCITRAL), Stefano Costa (Italy), Elif Tuğce Çinar (Türkiye), Ayanda Hlatshwayo (South Africa), Rico Konen (Netherlands), Dan Mawson (UK), Erica Morganti (EUROSTAT), Fernanda Negri (Brazil), Michael Polder (Netherlands), Graham Pilgrim (OECD), Markku Stenborg (Finland), Mehmet Oğuzhan Üstün (Türkiye), Tom Wickersham (UK), and Alonso Alfaro Ureña (Costa Rica).
The OECD Secretariat is grateful for the support from the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MPED), particularly Heba Youssef, the Head of Country Program Monitoring Unit, Mariam Ehab and Nur Islam, as well as the Ministry of Industry (MoIND), particularly Nermine Abulata, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Industry, and Sara Noaman, Senior Economist at Minister of Industry Office. The support of the MPED and MoIND team were instrumental in coordinating and facilitating discussions in a fact-finding mission in Cairo in October 2022 and policy mission in Cairo in September-October 2024, where the team exchanged with the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC), Industrial Development Authority (IDA), Industrial Affairs Sector, Industrial Modernisation Center (IMC), Productivity and Vocational Training Department (PVTD),Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), Ministry of Labor (MOL), Suez Canal Authority (SCA), International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and World Bank offices in Cairo.