Egypt’s Minister of Planning Hala al-Saeed said that the government aims to reach growth rate of 5.9% in 2019.
Saeed pointed out that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) did not expect Egypt to achieve such growth rates, projecting slightly lower rates of 5.8 percent.
“The rate of inflation in July reached 33 percent, and thanks to economic reform measures, it fell in April to 13 percent,” said Saeed in a statement on Thurday. “This is due to the lack of reliance on painkillers in economic reform: we know that all of society was affected by high prices, but the government made the largest social protection package,” Saeed continued.
The minister pointed out that the effects of higher inflation have began to decline, especially as the current growth rates are driven by investment and internal trade, contrary to the case prior to the reforms, when growth rates were driven by increased consumption.
Saeed said that the real social protection that the government seeks to implement is to provide job opportunities for citizens.
She added that the government is currently expanding public investments, and this is reflected in the size of national projects that have provided thousands of jobs.
Egypt, she says, is on the way to doubling its growth rates over the next four years.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
