‘Egypt economy steadfast in int’l reports despite pandemic’

The Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) said the Egyptian economy is proceeding steadily and has shown resilience in facing challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, thanks to the economic reforms which contributed to accelerating the growth rate, reducing budget deficit and inflation along with a rise in foreign reserves.

In its infograph, the cabinet reviewed the international foundations growth forecasts for Egypt’s economy despite the continuation of the coronavirus pandemic.

In its report, the World Bank said Egypt’s real growth recorded 3.3 % in FY2020/2021 (July 1, 2020—June 30, 2021), due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19, but it is expected to hit 5.5 per cent in the upcoming two fiscal years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.

Such growth is supported by the rebound in the tourism sector, gas exploration as well as growth of the communication and information technology, construction and real estate sectors, added the infgraph.

Egypt’s export-oriented sectors that were contracting since the beginning of the crisis (tourism, manufacturing, extractives, and Suez Canal) started rebounding during April – June 2021 (Q4-FY2020/2021); pushing growth to 7.7 per cent, compared to a contraction of 1.7 per cent in Q4-FY2019/20. In part, this reflects favorable annual base effects, in addition to the resumption of economic activity and international travel and trade, both domestically and abroad, according to the World Bank report.

Meanwhile, Moody’s expects the Egyptian economy to grow at a 5.5 per cent clip during the current fiscal year, slightly higher than the 5.4 per cent targeted by the government and the IMF’s forecast for 5.2 per cent growth.

And debt-to-GDP is expected to fall further: The country’s public debt is expected to fall to 84 per cent of GDP in FY2023-2024. Public debt already dropped to 90.6 per cent of GDP in FY2020-2021 and the government expects this trend to continue during the current fiscal year, with debt falling to 89.5 per cent of GDP by the end of June 2022.