Egypt ranks 2nd in capability of facing economic shocks: Min.

CAIRO – 11 February 2020: Egypt ranked second among countries that are capable of facing economic shocks, Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it said Monday.

Ma’it added that the country came in the fifth place globally in terms of the economic growth, with a growth rate of 5.6 percent. It also came in the second place as the highest primary surplus of GDP by 2 percent, and Ecuador ranked first.

According to the minister, Egypt’s growth rate hit 5.6 percent during the first quarter of 2019/2020 and the unemployment rate declined to 7.8 percent in the third quarter of 2019. He also added that the monthly inflation rate dropped to 7 percent in December 2019, compared to 12 percent in December 2018.

“The net foreign reserves surged to $45.4 billion in December 2019,” he stated, adding that it achieved a total surplus in the balance of payments amounting to about $200 million during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2019/2020.

This came during the issuing of the semi-annual report on the financial performance of the ministry during the period July - December 2019/2020.

Vice Minister of Finance for Fiscal Policies and Institutional Reform Ahmed Kojak said that the report is an evaluation of the financial performance and a statement for each of the revenues and expenses for the first half of the fiscal year 2019/2020 after six months from the actual implementation of the budget.