ESCWA, Standard Chartered Bank speculate rebound for Egypt's economic growth in 2021

CAIRO - 21 January 2021: The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development reviewed some international reports on the economic situation in Egypt and the Arab region.

The reports include a survey on economic and social developments in the Arab region in 2019 and 2020 by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), as well as expectations of the British Standard Chartered Bank.

Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, stated that international reports praise the economic situation of Egypt and predict improvement in economic indicators during the coming period.

El-Said pointed out that the British Standard Chartered Bank expects that Egypt will achieve the fastest economic recovery in 2021 in emerging markets.

El-Said added that the bank indicated in its report that Egypt is the only country in the region that can return to pre-pandemic growth rates, considering that the decline from 5.5% to 3.6% is slight, and it is expected that the growth of the Egyptian economy will return to 5.5% in 2021.

Regarding the ESCWA report on the Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the Arab Region 2019-2020, El-Said indicated that the report expected Egypt's economy to recover by 6.1% in 2021.

This is according to the good performance of the economy and the rate of economic growth in 2019, driven by the tourism sectors, gas extraction industries, wholesale and retail trade, real estate, and construction. The report forecast that tourism recovery will be the main force behind the economic recovery in general.

ESCWA report pointed out that Egypt was able during 2019 to maintain a low current account deficit of approximately 2.5% of GDP, thanks to the low trade deficit of about 7% of GDP.

The report also indicated an increase in the flow of foreign direct investment by 11% in 2019, bringing foreign direct investment in the region to $9 billion, making Egypt the largest recipient of foreign direct investment in the region in that year.