Egypt has prepared post-coronavirus economic recovery plans: min.

CAIRO - 13 April 2020: Planning Minister Hala el Saeid said on Monday Egypt has already prepared scenarios for economic recovery after the end of the coronavirus crisis.

Addressing a press conference, Saeid noted that there is a 20% possibility that the crisis is to end in June and a 50% possibility that it will end in September, noting that two scenarios have been devised for either one of the two cases.

A third scenario has also been charted if the crisis were to continue till December, Saied pointed out, expecting that the second half of the next fiscal year, beginning from January 2021, would witness a boom in economic growth.

Globalization will wane and countries will tend toward self-reliance and reducing imports, the minister predicted, anticipating that China would lead the global economic growth.

She expected that countries will be more focused on public investment rather than entering into regional blocs to boost their economies, pointing to Egypt's competitive advantage in the agricultural sector.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Kamali, the minister's adviser, said the growth rate was targeted to be 6% before the crisis, but now it is expected to drop to 4.2%.

In the case of the first scenario, the anticipated growth rate will be 3.3% for the first half of the fiscal year, he added.