Standard & Poor's positive outlook opens new vistas for investment in Egypt

CAIRO, Jan 12 (MENA) - Standard & Poor's (S&P) Financial Services expectations for the continuation of improvement in the performance of Egyptian economic indicators underscore the success of the country's economic reform program, said Finance Minister Mohammed Maait on Sunday.

The "B"rating - with a promising outlook - given to the Egyptian economy by the S&P opens new vistas for foreign investments during 2020, the minister added.

In a statement, Maait affirmed the commitment of the government to continuing the the economic reform program along with putting into effect fiscal stimulus measures which are meant to reduce the debt rate and debt service.

The improvement of Egyptian economy global indicators reflect the success of the Egyptian economic reform program that entails a set of measures meant to boost state revenues, rationalize expenditure and bring debt down, said Deputy Finance Minster for Financial Policies Ahmed Kojak.

The realization of state's economic targets in 2019 prompts maintaining the initial surplus of the GDP which hit two percent as well as the decline of the government debt if compared with the GDP, Kojak added.

The "Standard & Poor's" rating predicted the continuation of the decline in debt-to-GDP to 80.5 percent by 2022, and also expected the unemployment rate to continue to decrease to 7.5 percent by 2022, Kojak said.

The international rating Agency also expected the budget deficit to continue the decrease and to reach 7.8 percent in 2020, while Egypt aims to reduce it to 6.4 percent, the Finance Ministry official added.