Moody's rating reflects confidence on Egypt's economy: Finance Min.

CAIRO – 3 September 2020: Moody’s affirmation of Egypt’s rating at B2 with a stable outlook reflects the government's ability to adopt successful economic and financial policies that began with a serious program of economic reform over the past years, Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it stated.

Ma’it clarified Thursday that the economic reform program provided a measure of resilience to the Egyptian economy that enables it to interact with internal and external challenges and shocks.

“The decision confirms Egypt's success in managing the state's public finances efficiently during the Corona crisis, which won great praise from international institutions, especially in light of the government's continuing implementation of an integrated package of structural reforms to enhance the macroeconomic structure,” he added.

The minister pointed out that the government is keen to achieve the financial and economic targets despite all the internal and external challenges imposed by the coronavirus crisis, as it seeks to record a primary surplus, and to raise economic growth rates in the medium term by 5.5 percent, as Moody's expected. He noted that Moody’s expectations came as a result of the important development projects being implemented with the aim of stimulating investment and creating new job opportunities, in a manner that would contribute to maximizing productive capacities, expanding the export base, and increasing the gross domestic product; and then reduce the budget deficit and public debt rates.

Ma’it added that the positive indicators of the Egyptian economy in the Moody's report reflect the strength of institutional performance and governance, and the state’s ability to fulfill its external obligations, especially in light of the government's success in diversifying the sources of financing the state’s public budget deficit, extending the life of the debt portfolio and reducing financing burdens. “This will help raise the level of belonging to the Egyptian economy in the medium term.”

He pointed out that the economic and monetary reforms taken by the political leadership led to the diversification of the structure of the Egyptian economy, providing a great degree of flexibility in absorbing crises and mitigating internal and external shocks and maintaining growth rates, as reflected in the strength of the Egyptian economy, which occupied, According to the report, it ranked third among his peers.

Moody's Investors Service said Wednesday in a report that Egypt's (B2 stable) credit profile reflects its sizable and diversified economy, large domestic funding base, and projected foreign exchange reserves that are enough to cover maturing external liabilities over the next three years.