Minister of Finance Amr El Garhy said, that the government is racing time to accelerate economic growth, stressing that achieving high growth rates is the most appropriate mechanism to reduce poverty.
El Garhy said that his country will achieve growth rates of not less than 5% during the current fiscal year, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank during the meeting of ministers of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the presence of Christine Lagarde the CEO of the IMF.
Egypt achieved 4.2% economic growth by the end of last fiscal year, with the government achieving accumulated economic growth of more than 4.5% during the last quarter of fiscal year 2016-2017.
Meanwhile El Garhy delivered the opening speech of the meeting and presented the strategy of the economic reform program to achieve comprehensive and sustainable growth.
He pointed out that the government is working on five main axes, foremost of which is to increase growth and employment rates as a first step to protect against poverty by correcting the imbalances suffered by the Egyptian economy in recent years, which will stimulate the labour-intensive sectors.
Additionally the government is working to increase the creation of financial space to increase spending on health, education and public services, pointing out that the supporting women and increase their participation in the workforce file comes on the priorities of the government through spending on pre-basic education and entrepreneurship programs.
El Garhy also pointed out that the government is increasing the efficiency of social protection programs through the shift from in-kind support to more efficient monetary support in targeting the most-favoured-care groups.
The government and the Central bank of Egypt pay particular attention to financial coverage by automating government payments and providing the necessary financing, comprehensive and sustainable growth.
On the other hand, Christine Lagarde praised the recent reform measures taken by the Egyptian government to correct the course of the economy and the determination and determination of the government to continue the steps of economic reform.
El Garhy said that his country plans to issue dollar bonds in international markets during the first quarter of next year 2018, where a number of international investment funds were consulted during the meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.
The IMF delegation will visit Egypt at the end of this month for the second review of the economic reform program, as a step before the disbursement of the third tranche of $2 bn scheduled for early 2018.
