Next steps: Where do Egyptian business leaders see things heading in 2021?

A relevant market straddling both Africa and the Middle East, Egypt's dynamic and varied economy as well as its large and fast growing population have made the country a key investment centre across both of these regions for everything from venture capital to oil and gas.  

According to the IMF, the country will be the MENA region's only market to not enter recession this year and one of the few globally to achieve growth of over 3%. In spite of this positive outlook, businesses and individuals have experienced major disruption and challenges as a direct and indirect result of the pandemic. On a macro-scale, the Central Bank of Egypt's decisive measures in March, the authorisation of some essential sectors to continue working and more permissive social distancing measures all bolstered economic activity.

Looking ahead, much of the disruption seen led to widespread adoption of digital solutions such as remote working and e-commerce. As such, many of these changes are expected to be irreversible.

Over 70% of companies surveyed stated they were operating at over 61% capacity with nearly one third saying they were operating at full capacity. During the first quarter of 2021, on average the business leaders surveyed by Oxford Business Group expect to increase their overall operations and run at a higher capacity.