The rapid growth of Egypt’s population will become the main challenge facing the country, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said during a speech on the inauguration day of parliament’s third session on Monday. “In all honesty, the biggest challenge that we should be combating is population growth; especially after we reached an unprecedented increase that would affect what has been accomplished in terms of economic growth,” the Prime Minister said, as quoted by Ahram Online. He stressed that population growth has been a longstanding problem hindering the country’s progress for decades, pointing out that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has decreed that a comprehensive strategy combatting the issue be implemented. “The president ordered earlier that a comprehensive strategy [to] be put in place to overcome this major challenge that has been crippling the country for decades. We have indeed pinpointed a strategy, but we need the support of all involved bodies,” he said during his address. Ismail’s comments come just days after Egypt’s official statistics agency CAPMAS announced that the country’s population hit 104.2 million, including 94.98 million that reside within the country while 9.4 million live abroad. The new figures have…
