Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawy said that the national project for community, human and local development, 'Your Project', has managed since its launch to generate 1.3 million jobs for young people in various governorates by implementing 188,000 projects, with total loans amounting to EGP 22.2bn. Shaarawy indicated in a statement on Saturday that Your Project contributed to achieving the highest rate of project implementation in Upper and Lower Egypt. It achieved high growth rates through the implementation of 99,000 small projects with loans worth EGP 11.5bn. The projects contributed to providing 595,000 jobs for young people. He said that Minya has the highest number of projects implemented in Upper Egypt, where 21,400 projects were implemented with total loan expenditures of EGP 2.5bn. This provided job opportunities amounting to 136,000. Next up is Sohag, where 19,500 projects with a budget of EGP 2.2bn were implemented, through which 120,000 jobs opportunities were generated. In Assiut, 13,000 projects were implemented with a loan of EGP 1.6bn, providing 39,000 jobs. He added that Your Project has implemented 2,000 small and medium projects in December 2021 in various governorates, with total loans amounting to EGP 400m and contributed to providing 20,000 jobs for young people. Shaarawy directed the administration of Your Project to intensify awareness-raising campaigns in the governorates about the advantages and facilities offered by the programme to encourage young people to apply, especially that these projects meet the needs of the labour market and highlight the creative ideas of young people that help increase economic growth. He explained that SMEs have an effective role in the economies of all developed countries. He stressed that these projects are the mainstay of the economy of all countries, whether developed or developing. They provide sustainable jobs and increase economic diversification and competitiveness, thus contributing ideally to solving unemployment problems. He stressed the keenness of the Ministry of Local Development on encouraging young people in the governorates to establish SMEs in various fields, especially production and service projects. Shaarawy pointed out that Your Project is one of the serious initiatives that benefited from the facilities offered by the CBE initiative to lend to MSMEs with a return rate of 5%. He called on youths and women wishing to implement MSMEs to go to the nearest local unit in their governorates and submit a request to the Your Project unit to obtain a loan through the banks participating in the initiative. He explained that 260 headquarters are available across 27 Egyptian governorates. Shaarawy added that Your Project offers several facilities to applicants, the most important of which is the issuance of temporary licenses and approvals and providing simplified tax treatment for micro, small, and medium enterprises. He explained that the initiative's goal is to bring about local economic development across all of Egypt.
