Egypt achieves growth rate of 8.3% during Q2 of 21/22

CAIRO - 22 February 2022: Egypt achieved a growth rate of 8.3 percent during the second quarter of the current fiscal year 2021/2022, compared to a growth rate of 2  percent during the second quarter of last year, according to Minister of Planning Hala El-Said.

 

El-Said explained that the growth rate during the first half of the current fiscal year reached 9 percent, adding that the growth rate is expected to reach between 6.2 percent to 6.5 percent by the end of this year, to be one of the highest growth rates that were expected, as it exceeded the expectations of international institutions for growth rates during this year.

 

This came during a press conference held by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development to review the indicators of the performance of the Egyptian economy during the second quarter of the current fiscal year 2021/2022, as well as the efforts of the Ministry of Planning in reviewing and auditing GDP data, in the presence of Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Ahmed Kamali, Deputy Minister of Planning,  Fathy Saqr, the minister's economic advisor.

 

During the conference, the minister reviewed the indicators of the performance of the Egyptian economy during the second quarter of the current fiscal year 2021/2022, noting that the Egyptian economy witnessed an improvement in economic performance.

 

El-Said confirmed that all sectors witnessed positive performance, with the tourism sector recording a growth of 63 percent, and the telecommunications sector hit a growth rate of 16.7 percent, in addition to the Suez Canal sector achieving 13 percent, and the industry by 10 percent, as well as 8.5 percent for the construction sector, with the health sector achieving 5.7  percent growth rate, and education 5.5 percent.

 

She elaborated that the agriculture sector for the first time broke the 5 percent barrier, explaining that the tourism sector achieved 108 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year, telecommunications 16.5 percent, and the manufacturing industry 15.5 percent.

 

Regarding the sectors that most contributed to the GDP,  El-Said referred to the sectors of the manufacturing industry, trade and retail, agriculture, real estate activities and extractions, noting that the unemployment rate decreased to 7.4 percent during the second quarter, compared to 7.5 percent during the previous quarter, affected by the drop in male unemployment rates from 5.9 to 5.2.

 

She also referred to the sectors that contributed to the employment rates, which were represented in the agricultural sectors in the first place, then trade and retail, the construction and building sector, manufacturing industries, transportation and storage.

 

El-Said announced an increase in the GDP estimates by 9.2 percent by the end of the year 2020/2021, in light of the process of reviewing the output data within the framework of the results of the economic census 2017/2018.

 

She explained that the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development audited the country's GDP data in coordination with the relevant ministries and authorities by conducting a review process for the GDP activities in light of the results of the economic census of establishments for the year 2017/2018, which was carried out by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics and its results were announced in 2020. This is in the context of the Egyptian state’s interest in continuously developing the data system with a high degree of transparency and accuracy, and following international standards in this field.

 

 

“The review process, which lasted 16 months, revealed a remarkable increase in the value of the gross domestic product, which amounted to LE 331 billion in the 2017/2018 census year, as the value of the output reached LE 4.8 trillion, compared to LE 4.4 trillion before the review process, with an increase of 7.5 percent,” El-Said stated.

 

The minister indicated that the construction activity acquired the largest share of the value of the increase in the GDP in 2017/2018 by about LE 121 billion of the total increase in the GDP, i.e. by more than a third of the increase in the adjusted value of the GDP, in light of the remarkable boom that the sector witnessed as a result of the national projects implemented by the state in the field of housing and roads, and the injection of more investments by the New Urban Communities Authority, following up that the manufacturing sector (without petroleum refining) contributed about LE 61 billion of the total increase achieved in the GDP.

 

El-Said  indicated the sectoral distribution of the relative increase in the GDP, explaining that most of the increase came in the construction and building sectors by 37 percent, followed by the industry sector by 18 percent, education and health by 9.4 percent and other social services by 8.8 percent, real estate activities and business services by 8.8 percent, transportation and storage sector by 6 percent and the electricity sector by 4 percent, following that these sectors contributed about 92 percent of the value of the increase in the GDP in 2017/2018.

 

 

She reviewed a number of the most important results of the review, noting that the contribution of the informal sector amounted to only 30 percent of the GDP, in addition to the contribution of the formal private sector to 34 percent of the GDP, and the public sector contribution of 36 percent of the GDP.