“We are in a global trade war,” former Investment Minister and IMF Executive Director Mahmoud Mohieldin told Lamees El Hadidi on Kelma Akhira (watch, runtime: 5:13). “The system started eroding in 2008, but by 2025, we can say it’s gone,” Mohieldin said in reference to what he described as the collapse of the post-Second World War economic order.

The road ahead is far from clear as “we are awaiting a new global order whose contours have yet to take shape — and we don’t yet know which powers will hold the greatest sway, whether in size or influence,” Mohieldin said. New global economic realities could lead to growing joblessness, slowing growth, rising debt, and declining opportunity — particularly in developing countries in Egypt — Mohieldin warned.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, according to Mohieldin, who argued that the shifting landscape opens “major, meaningful” opportunities for Egyptian exports — whether to the US, the EU, or regionally. But to capitalize, Egypt must boost export competitiveness and draw in investment (watch, runtime: 2:04).

With Egypt’s IMF program set to wrap in November 2025, the country’s economic approach ahead could look pretty different. Mohieldin explained that he expects the government to put forward a more “ambitious and flexible” fiscal and spending strategy following the end of the program (watch, runtime: 4:10).

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