Egypt’s GDP seen hitting EGP 6.4 trillion in FY2020/21 – minister

Egypt’s GDP is expected to hit 6.4 trillion Egyptian pounds ($408.1 billion) in the financial year 2020/2021 ending in June up from 5.5 trillion pounds in the 2019/2020 year, its finance minister said on Monday.

Mohamed Maait said the expected increase will be supported by the expansion in developmental investments.

Egypt is one of the countries that managed to reduce its debt to GDP ratio, Maait added explaining that debt fell 20 percent during the past three years despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The minister further said in a statement that the economic reform programme and the solid buffers it provides for the economy helped Egypt overcome the ongoing repercussions of the pandemic. Global credit rating agencie have kept their positive outlooks for Egypt’s credit rating.

As of July 1, Egypt’s new 2021/2022 budget will be rolled out with a total value of 2.6 trillion pounds, the biggest in its history.

The new budget was drafted with positive expectations that Egypt will manage to restore its pre-pandemic growth and macroeconomic performance levels.

According to the 2021/2022 draft budget, Egypt’s real GDP is seen growing to 5.4 percent, following a slowdown in FY 2020/2021 estimated at 2.8 percent, in light of the gradual economic recovery from the COVID-19 downturn.