Egypt’s economy grows 5% in first quarter, misses government target due to coronavirus

By Hesham Ibrahim On May 21, 2020

Egypt’s economy grew 5 percent in the first quarter, official data showed on Wednesday, lower than the government’s target of 5.9 percent as the coronavirus affected economic activity.

The manufacturing, retail, wholesale and retail trade, as well as real estate activity, building and construction, and agriculture sectors contributed by around 50 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP), Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed said in a video conference on Wednesday.

The contribution of tourism sector to the GDP dropped to 2.7 percent in January-March year-on-year from 3 percent in 2019, al-Saeed added.

Same with the manufacturing sector, its contribution to the GDP also fell to 12.2 percent in January-March year-on-year from 12.8 percent in 2019. Meanwhile, telecommunications sector made up 2.7 percent of the GDP in the January-March 2020 period, up from 2.5 percent in the same period last year, she added.