Egyptian Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed said on Sunday that the government is targeting a growth rate of around 5 percent for the 2017-18 fiscal year, state news agency MENA reported.
Speaking at a news conference, Saeed said Egypt is also looking to boost its growth rate from about 4 percent currently to between 6-6.5 percent in 2020.
The growth rate for the second quarter of the 2016-17 fiscal year slowed to 3.8 percent from 4 percent during the same period last year, she added, attributing the fall to a decline in consumption and a rise in price of imports due to Egypt’s floating of its pound currency in November.
Last year, the ministry had reported the second quarter figure as 3.8 percent, however.
Egypt’s budget deficit during the first half of the 2016-17 fiscal year, which ends in June 2017, was 5.4 percent of gross domestic product, down from 6.4 percent in the same period last year, Saeed said.
The Finance Ministry is currently preparing the budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year, which begins in July.
-
Egypt’s Sisi to visit Washington in first week of April
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will make his first state visit to Washington during the first week of April at the invitation of US President ... Middle East -
Egypt’s capital set to grow by half a million in 2017
Cairo’s population is set to grow by 500,000 this year, more than any other city in the world, adding to the pressure on an Egyptian economy ... Economy -
What you need to know about Egypt’s bread crisis
Over the past two days, protests erupted across Egypt in the wake of government cuts to bread subsidies, mirroring anger among the country’s ... Middle East -
Egypt’s Mukhabarat hires Washington lobbyists to boost image
Egyptian intelligence has hired two U.S. public relations firms in Washington to lobby on the country’s behalf and boost its image, the first ... Advertising & PR