Growth rates’ levels in Egypt reach 5.3%

CAIRO – 28 February 2018: Egypt witnessed a movement in its growth rates from 2.9 percent in 2013 to end the second quarter of 2017/2018 with a growth rate of 5.3 percent.

Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed said Saturday that Egypt is targeting a growth rate of 5.8 percent in fiscal year 2018/19 and seven percent in 2022.

Saeed said that the government aims to achieve growth rates of 6.2 percent, 6.6 percent and seven percent in fiscal years 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22 respectively.

The growth rate has fluctuated notably since the January 25 revolution until economic reforms were implemented in the last 18 months.

With expectations to reach a growth of seven percent in the upcoming four years, Egypt Today reviews Egypt’s growth rate in the last four years.

In the fiscal year 2013/2014, the growth rate recorded 2.9 percent while the growth rate jumped in 2014/2015 to reach 4.4 percent.

In 2015/2016, the growth rate slipped to 4.3 percent and it further declined to 4.2 percent in fiscal year 2016/2017.

The growth rate grew in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017/2018 to record 5.2 percent; jumping up one whole percent.

In the second quarter of fiscal year 2017/2018, the growth rate reached 5.3 percent.


The GDP growth rate in Egypt from 2006 till 2016 - The World Bank


The IMF Executive Board approved in November 2016 a three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFT) loan to Egypt worth $12 billion to support its economic reform program.

In December 2017, Cairo received the third $2 billion tranche of its loan, bringing total disbursements to $6.08 billion.

IMF regional director Gehad Azour told Egypt Today that Cairo will receive a $2 billion fourth tranche of its $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) after concluding the program’s third review in June.

The Central Bank of Egypt lowered the interest rate by one percent on February 15, as the inflation rates continue going downhill for the first time since November's flotation.

The bank cut its overnight deposit rate to 17.75 percent from 18.75 percent and its overnight lending rate to 18.75 percent from 19.75 percent.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) stated that Egypt’s annual inflation declined to 17 percent in January 2018.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said that the Egyptian annual core inflation rate declined to 14.35 percent in January 2018 from 19.86 percent in December 2017.

Upon these data, Fitch revised the Outlook on Egypt's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Positive from Stable and affirmed the IDR at 'B'.

Fitch attributed their revision of Egypt’s Outlook to the first interest rate cut since exchange rate liberalization which has been made possible by an improvement in macro-economic stability, underpinned by more orthodox policy settings under the country's IMF program.