Publications

The social economy is considered a key factor in providing employment opportunities and improving living conditions for vulnerable groups. Although there are no official statistics regarding the number of social enterprises in Egypt, the growing number of different actors in the ecosystem, as intermediary support organisations, indicates the prosperity of social economy. Based on eight case studies of social enterprises in Egypt, the discussion in this research shows that social enterprises mostly attract young, educated Egyptians. They operate in different sectors, such as education, the environment and crafts. They generate direct and indirect economic opportunities, mainly for women, young people and informal workers. However, limited access to financial resources and the non-existence of a legal framework for social enterprises are two major barriers to the development of social enterprises in Egypt. These barriers constrain their potential role in facilitating the formalisation of informal employment.

We explore the relationship between different measures of financial inclusion and banks’ performance across a global sample of countries, characterised by different institutional and regulatory environments and income levels. We employ principal component analysis to construct an aggregate bank performance index, composed of a set of key indicators summarised by the CAMEL rating system, including banks’ solvency, asset quality, efficiency, profitability, and liquidity.
Our main findings suggest that different inclusion measures can have a different association with bank performance. Specifically, there seems to be a trade-off between bank performance and increased financial deepening, particularly in high income countries. In contrast, greater financial inclusion, measured as deposits to GDP, number of deposits, and number of borrowers, does not seem to adversely affect bank performance in low income countries. In fact, we find that banks in low income countries could achieve significant gains from improving financial access and enhancing the regulatory environment.

The study aims to provide a quantified projection of the Blue Transition scenario (the study published by EMEA in 2020) using a CGE (computable general equilibrium) model (GEM-E3-MENA) that is calibrated to the latest available data. The model-based analysis aims at providing a consistent projection of the energy and economic systems for the Euro-Mediterranean (EU-MED) countries within the Blue Transition narrative.

The analysis takes into account the capacity constraints and the comparative advantages for growth of each country. The key contribution of the model, used for this study, lies in its capacity to combine the different set of assumptions regarding: technical progress; population growth; bilateral trade; development of skilled labour; climate-change and energy related policies, in an integrated manner that ensures the consistency of the socio-economic projection. An important result of the analysis is the decomposition of growth into specific factors and sectors for each country.

About the Authors: Ioannis Charalampidis (Researcher), Panagiotis Karkatsoulis (Researcher) and Leonidas Paroussos (Managing Director) at E3MLab, Associate member of EMNES. The study is reviewed by Prof. Rym Ayadi President of EMEA and Director of EMNES and Carlo Sessa is Member of the Executive Board of EMEA and Associate Member of EMNES.