Egypt's foreign reserves covers about 8 months of commodity imports

CAIRO – 11 March 2021: The current average of foreign reserves covers about 8 months of Egypt's commodity imports, Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said stated Thursday.

El-Said clarified in a statement that there is a strategic stockpile of goods available.

“There is stability in the general level of prices,” she stressed, noting that the inflation rates decreased to 4.9 percent on an annual basis.

Egypt's net foreign reserves continued to rise for the eighth month in a row, to reach $ 40.2 billion during February.

The minister added that despite the global repercussions resulting from the coronavirus and the economic contraction in many countries in the world in light of this crisis, the Egyptian economy was able to achieve positive growth rates.

The Egyptian economy was able to maintain a positive growth rate during the second quarter of the current fiscal year 2020-2021, reaching 2 percent, from October to December 2020.

The average growth rate of the Egyptian economy during the first half of the current fiscal year was about 1.35 percent during the period from July to December last, compared to about 5.6 percent during the same period of the previous fiscal year.

The minister explained that sectors such as health, education, telecommunications and information technology, agriculture, construction and building, and the wholesale and retail trade sector have achieved an increase in their rates, noting that even sectors that have achieved a contraction such as the tourism sector have begun to recover, as their rates were better than the first quarter of the current fiscal year due to the encouragement of domestic tourism.

He pointed out that most sectors in all countries of the world have been affected by the Covid-19 crisis, and there are losses in growth in the global economy, and global trade has decreased with about 9 percent, in addition to the losses in international tourism, which the World Tourism Organization estimated at about $935 billion, which is equal to 10 times the losses at the time of the global financial crisis in 2009.

El-Said emphasized that the government, in light of the current crisis, was keen to achieve a balance between preserving the health of citizens and turning the wheel of economic activity, which had clear and good repercussions on growth and employment rates.