Industrial sector is largest contributor to growth of the Egyptian economy: Min.

CAIRO – 8 July 2021: “Egypt was one of the few countries that recorded during the crisis an economic growth of about 3.57 percent during 2019/2020,” Minister of Trade and Industry, Nevine Gamea, said.

Gamea explained in a statement, Thursday, that the industrial sector is the locomotive of economic growth in Egypt and contributed about 17.1 percent to the GDP in 2019/2020, compared to about 16.4 percent in the previous year, and thus became the largest contributor to Egyptian economic growth, compared to other economic sectors.

She added that the manufacturing sector achieved a positive growth rate during 2019/2020 of about 1.4 percent, although it was less than what it achieved in the previous year, which recorded 2.8 percent, but remained positive in the year of the pandemic as a reflection of the measures taken to strengthen the industrial sector during the crisis.

Gamea explained that, thanks to the success of the first phase of the economic reform program, Egypt launched the second phase of the National Structural Reform Program in 2021, which focuses on raising the competitiveness of 3 main sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, communications and information technology, to increase their contribution to the GDP.

She stressed that Egypt succeeded in achieving many positive economic indicators during the Corona crisis, thanks to the economic reform program that it pursued since 2016 and the measures it took to confront the pandemic, which amounted to about 541 measures from March 2019 to May 2021.

This came in the context of the Minister’s speech, during the virtual opening session of the high-level meeting to launch the report on the production and export transformation, which was organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in cooperation with the German Agency for International Cooperation, the African Bank for Import and Export, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization “UNIDO” and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

With regard to industry and trade, the minister pointed out that the second phase of the structural reforms program aims to raise investment rates in the manufacturing sector in a sustainable manner, increase its participation in the gross domestic product, localize and deepen industry, develop local supply chains, and integrate at higher stages in global and regional value chains, and increasing the international competitiveness of manufacturing industries and promoting industrial exports.

"The program targets the food industries, the pharmaceutical industries and medical supplies, the textile and ready-made garments industries, and the engineering industries that include cars and household appliances,” she continued.

Gamea pointed out that there are many opportunities that will enable Egypt to achieve its goals for the second phase of the structural reform program thanks to the political and security stability that Egypt is witnessing, in addition to the huge leap in infrastructure development, and the measures that have been taken and are constantly being taken to enable micro-enterprises and SMEs to take advantage of the industry's growing potential.

She noted that the growth axes included focusing on increasing non-traditional exports, encouraging industries that can compete in global markets, and working to attract investments, in addition to deepening local industrialization due to Egypt's large domestic market, as well as the numerous bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that contribute significantly to the growth of the Egyptian exports.

The minister indicated that work is underway on legislative, procedural and digital development axes in order to reduce the time and cost of export and import in order to strengthen the industrial and trade sectors.

She added that Egypt aims to achieve integration with global and regional production and value chains, especially African ones, especially in light of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, as Egypt's priorities during the next stage include developing the Egyptian economy to be more innovative and benefiting from advanced technologies, not only as an end-use market.