PMI data reflects Egypt's success in overcoming 3rd wave of Corona: Planning Min.

CAIRO – 4 August 2021: The Egyptian Ministry of Planning reviewed the results of the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report for the month of July 2021, as the index reflects the performance of about 400 non-oil-producing private sector companies, including the industrial, construction, services, selling, retail and wholesale sectors.

The PMI report indicated that the index scored 49.1 points during July 2021, in addition to the Egyptian labor market moving to the scope of expansion in July 2021 for the first time since October 2019, according to a statement issued, Wednesday.

It stated that the improvement was reflected in the results of the employment sub-index, which crossed the 50 level, recording 50.3 in July, compared to 48.7 in June, and this is consistent with the latest data issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), which indicated a decline in unemployment rates during the first quarter of In 2021, reaching 7.4 percent, compared to 7.7 percent during the same quarter of last year.

 According to the report, the labor market is expected to expand further and employment levels will rise in the event of an increase in local demand, in light of the importance of the state’s stimulus to demand and the wheel of production through large reconstruction and infrastructure projects while preserving the health of citizens in order to ensure the sustainability of income levels during corona crisis and mitigate the negative effects on Egyptian families.

At the level of the internal economic situation, the data of the PMI report reflects the success of the Egyptian state in overcoming the third wave of the Corona virus on the one hand, and the continuation of efforts and improvements that are taken in accordance with the vision and direction of the Egyptian state to stimulate demand and improve the business climate in Egypt and the non-oil private sector.

The report referred to the international reports on Egypt, which demonstrate the success of the Egyptian state in balancing the health of citizens and economic performance, which urges the state to continue those fruitful efforts to promote economic and productive activity in parallel with the precautionary measures to limit the spread of the epidemic on the one hand and the expansion of vaccination operations with available vaccines.

The report pointed out that Moody's affirmed Egypt's credit rating of B2 with a stable outlook, and the agency indicated in its latest review that this balances the "high exposure to shocks" with Egypt's track record of being able to overcome volatility.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected that the Egyptian economy would achieve growth in 2020/2021 of 2.8 percent, provided that the recovery and revival would be stronger in the next fiscal year to reach 5.2 percent.

The Renaissance Capital investment bank indicated that the Egyptian economy would grow by 4.5-5 percent in the second quarter of 2021 and it will continue to rise during the rest of the year.