Egypt expects 5.4% growth rate for FY 2020/2021 – FinMin

Egypt expects an economic growth rate of 5.4 percent during the financial year (FY) 2019/2020, according to its Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait.

Egypt is one of the few countries that was able to achieve growth despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, registering the third-highest growth rate worldwide, the minister said on Monday during a conference in Cairo.

He also noted that the state economic reform programme supported Egypt’s ability to deal flexibly during the pandemic, while pumping more investments in a number of sectors, including health, industry, and agriculture.

He also noted that the government is expected to achieve a growth rate of 2.8 percent during the current year, after achieving a growth rate of 3.6 percent a year earlier.

However, Egypt’s real GDP growth is forecast to decline to 2.3 percent in the current FY2020/2021 — which ends in June — down from 3.6 percent in FY2019/20, according to the World Bank’s updated report on Egypt’s economic outlook, issued on the occasion of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) spring meetings.

The World Bank attributed the projected decline to the ongoing effect of the pandemic, the renewed surge in COVID-19 cases, and the slow vaccine roll-out domestically and abroad.