Egypt to hit 7% growth rate in 2021/22: Finance Ministry

CAIRO – 11 February 2019: Egypt is expected to achieve a growth rate of 7 percent during fiscal year 2021/2022, up from expectations of 5.8 percent during 2018/2019, the Ministry of Finance revealed in a report.

The ministry emphasized keenness on achieving the inclusive growth which will be reflected on all social brackets and will absorb all entries to the workforce annually, according to the bi-yearly report of fiscal year 2018/2019.

According to the report, the unemployment rate is anticipated to reach 7.1 percent in June 2022, down from 9.9 percent in June 2018.

The report also estimated the average crude oil price during fiscal year 2019/2020 to be $67 per barrel.

According to the Finance Ministry’s statement, the state’s fuel subsidies hit LE 30.17 billion during July to December 2018, compared to LE 26.65 billion during the same period of the prior year.

As per the currency, the primary expectation of the dollar in 2018/2019 is at LE 18/dollar, with an average interest of 18.6 percent on government treasury bills and bonds.

Meanwhile, financial objectives on the medium-term aim at reducing budget deficit to 5.8 percent in 2020/2021 and to record a public debt of 93.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by June 2021, noting that this requires achieving a surplus of 2 percent annually starting from 2018/2019.

The report further referred that the targeted volume of GDP by the end of fiscal year 2019/2020 is LE6.18 trillion, up from the estimated volume of LE 5.25 trillion in 2018/2019.

Also, the ministry affirmed adding new mechanisms in managing the public debt, including: issuing zero-bonds, diversiting sources of foreign funding, and developing long and medium-strategies to manage public debt to reach sustainable levels.