FILE: Planning and Economic Development Minister Hala el Saeed
CAIRO - 5 June 2020: Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala el Saeed said the Egyptian economy is consistent and managed to face the coronavirus crisis thanks to the economic reforms made by the State prior to its outbreak.
In a report released by the Ministry of Planning, Saeed said international financial institutions expect that Egypt would maintain a positive growth rate despite the coronavirus crisis, unlike many other emerging markets that would see a negative growth rate by the end of the year.
The Planning Ministry report highlighted international institutions' forecasts for the future of the Egyptian economy, with Fitch Ratings expecting that it would remain powerful in the coming five years.
The report also sheds light on the success of the economic reform program in slashing inflation.
Meanwhile, the minister noted that the Egyptian economy sectors enjoy variety and flexibility, citing the coronavirus negative impact on tourism and aviation sectors, and the sectors that thrived such as agriculture, information technology, telecommunications and education.
Due to the crisis, the government reordered its priorities, making the health sector and everything related to the human life at the top of these priorities, including education, scientific research, pharmaceutical industry and food industry, the minister pointed out.
The government targets to boost investments in the higher education sector by 100 percent and IT sector by 300 percent, the minister added.
The report also reviewed the outcome of the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) in May, saying the index went up by about 11 points from 29.7 to 40.7, recording 37% increase in comparison with April.
The minister said those statistics show that non-petroleum private sector companies have started to relatively improve
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