Wholesale, retail trade represents 14.5% of Egypt's GDP

CAIRO – 23 March 2021: Egypt’s wholesale and retail trade sector represented about 14.5 percent, recording LE 850 billion, of the gross domestic product (GDP) during fiscal year 2019/2020, First Assistant Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Ibrahim Ashmawy, said on behalf of Minister, Ali Al-Moselhi.

Ashmawy added that if the logistics and warehousing sector is included in the wholesale and retail trade sector, its contribution to the GDP will reach 19.5 percent, representing LE 1.2 trillion.

He explained to the Egypt Trade and Investment Summit in its second edition in Egypt under the slogan "Towards an Interactive Map for Investment in the Retail Trade Sector", that Egypt is considered the third best country in terms of growth rates during the last fiscal year despite the Corona pandemic, which affected the global economic slowdown, indicating that the growth rate reached 3.6 percent, and 5.6 percent was targeted.

Ashmawy explained that the gross domestic product amounted to about $362 billion, equivalent to LE 5.8 trillion, and mentioned that the retail trade sector in Egypt represented about LE 500 billion last fiscal year, and is the highest growth in the Middle East.

He pointed out that the official retail trade area in Egypt reaches 3 million square meters, represented by commercial centers, wholesale markets, logistical areas, retail stores and stores, “but we need 30 million square meters in this sector, but it is compensated by the informal sector.”.

In the same context, Ashmawy said that the volume of e-commerce, according to the latest statistics issued by the Federation of Egyptian Banks in 2018, amounted to $ 3.6 billion, then it has now reached about $ 4.8 billion.

He pointed out that the volume of official e-commerce using credit cards has reached LE 80 billion, noting that he believes that the volume of e-commerce that takes place in cash is equivalent to 5 times that of credit cards, to record about LE 400 billion in the event of adding remittances in cash upon delivery on the credit.