Egypt - Electricity and Green Growth Support Program II (EGGSP II)

The present intervention concerns the second phase of the Electricity and Green Growth Support Programme (EGGSP II). It will support policy actions to further strengthen the sustainability and competitiveness of the electricity sector. EGGSP will support the government in maintaining the reform momentum to limit the deterioration of macroeconomic balances and create additional fiscal space that enables it to expand social spending, especially on health for combating COVID-19, and deploy further protection measures to alleviate poverty and socioeconomic hardship. Specifically, the program will support enhancing the resilience of the power sector and deepening private sector participation for fulfilling the interconnected goals of the country’s energy strategy for ensuring security of energy supply through enhanced sustainability, governance and competition. EGGSP comprises two components that have been selected based on the current priorities for the next steps in the electricity sector reform agenda. EGGSP II retains the same two components of EGGSP I given that they remain relevant to the priorities for the current stage of the electricity sector reform agenda. The two components complement each other whereby the first component aims to improve the financial sustainability and competitiveness of the electricity sector, which is among the prerequisites for attracting more private investment in clean energy and energy efficiency for promoting climate change mitigation, green and sustainable growth as per the objective of the second program component. Its implementation is expected to contribute to Egypt’s aspirations for becoming a regional energy hub by improving the security of energy supply and enhancing sector competitiveness.