President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has underscored the positive indicators of Egypt’s economic performance citing the Egyptian people’s support, awareness, and patience.
It comes during a Sunday meeting between Al-Sisi and members of the ministerial economic committee.
During the meeting, the committee presented its report on the indicators of economic performance in the fiscal year (FY) 2018/19, noting that Egypt has achieved the world’s third largest economic growth rate of 5.6%, presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady said.
The report pointed out that the annual inflation rate went down from 13.8% in June 2018 to 8.9% in the same period this year.
The report added that the credit rating of Egypt’s economy has been praised by respective international institutions.
Al-Sisi explained that these improvements across all indicators, which the government is expected to maintain, will contribute to improving the life quality of Egyptians.
Egypt adopted its economic reform programme in 2016, which included the currency flotation (resulting in the pound losing about 50% of its value) implementing the VAT, and reducing energy subsidies.
To support home-grown reforms, the government embarked in November 2016 on an International Monetary Fund (IMF)-supported programme to restore the stability of its finances, promote growth and employment, while shielding the poor from the adverse effects of the changes.
The IMF forecasts Egypt to achieve 5.5% GDP growth during FY 2018/19 and 5.9% in FY 2019/20.
