The Egyptian executive system structure is divided into three main institutions types: ministries, governorates and authorities, said the Institutional Development Program Director at the Ministry of Planning, Tarek Al-Hossary, in a panel discussion entitled “Egypt in numbers”.
“The structure of the Egyptian executive system is complicated, we have 2,500 units and executive bodies including 33 ministry, 27 governorates and 234 authorities,” Al Hossary added at the panel, which came as part of the T-20 Innovation in Government conference on Sunday.
He said that the 33 ministries are divided into 31 regular ministries and two state ministries. As for the authorities, they include 63 independent authorities, 120 service authorities and 51 economic authorities.
Egypt aims to reduce the number of ministries to reach an average of around 20 ministries by 2030, Al-Hossary added.
In Egypt, the number of ministries is significantly high in comparison to governments internationally. The average number of ministries in Europe is approximately 20 ministries, while Brazil has 26, Greece has 16 and Germany 15, according to Logic Management Consulting’s Senior Director, Ahmed Nounou.
The governorates include 2,131 units, such as cities, villages and neighbourhood authorities, according to Al-Hossary.
Regarding legislations in Egypt, the country has 54,585 laws, decrees and orders. “We have one constitution, 12,702 acts, 11,949 presidential decrees, 2,352 cabinet decrees, 23,342 ministerial decrees and 489 military orders,” Al-Hossary added.
The number of employees in the executive system of the government amounts to approximately 6 million employees, while the training budget for them recorded only EGP 91m, marking only about EGP 15 per person, which reduce any chanced for developing the employee’s training, said Nounou.
By international standards, out of 102 countries, Egypt ranks 95th in the regulatory enforcement index, 91st in the open government index, while in the absence of corruption, Egypt ranks 52nd, Nounou added.
“In conclusion, Egypt has a large and complex government body; the regulatory enforcement is a significant weakness, the government effectiveness has severely worsened after the 25 January Revolution,” Al-Hossary said.
He added that by 2030, the Egyptian government aims to reach an effective executive system offering high quality services.
