Planning, emigration ministers hold open discussions with businessmen abroad

CAIRO - 8 May 2020: Planning and Economic Development Minister Hala el Saeed and State Minister for Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates' Affairs Nabila Makram held an open discussion with a number of Egyptian businessmen living abroad via video conference.

The meeting aimed at following up on the outcome of "Egypt can.. through investment and development" conference which was held in October, the Planning Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Saeed reviewed the indices of the Egyptian economy before the coronavirus crisis, pointing out that the economic growth rate hit 5.6% and the unemployment rate dropped to less than 8% and other financial and monetary positive indicators.

The Egyptian economy is now expected to achieve a growth rate of 3.5 percent by the end of fiscal year 2020/2021 if the pandemic ends by the end of the current fiscal year 2019/2020, she said, noting that impact of the crisis will extend to the first quarter or half of the fiscal year 2020/2021.

She underlined that if the virus lasts till December 2020, the targeted growth rate will decrease to 2 percent.

There are two scenarios to recover from the coronavirus crisis, by containing the virus by the end of June 2020 or December 2020, she said.

The World Bank said that Egypt’s economy is achieving the best performance in the Middle East and North Africa region and the International Monetary Fund said that Egypt is the only country in the region to maintain its economic growth, she added.

The emigration minister reviewed the state’s efforts to bring back the Egyptians stranded abroad and talked with the businessmen about means of their contribution to the recovery of the Egyptian economy.