President Sisi, PM, finance min. review economic situation

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Sun, 19 Nov 2017 - 08:47 GMT

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Sun, 19 Nov 2017 - 08:47 GMT

FILE – President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi

FILE – President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi

CAIRO – 19 November 2017: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi met on Sunday with Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Minister of Finance Amr El-Garhy, as well as two deputy finance ministers – Ahmed Kojak and Sherine El-Sharkawy.

According to an official statement issued by presidency spokesperson Ambassador Bassam Radi said the president discussed the indicators of the current financial and economic performance.

President Sisi directed the participants to pursue the work started to strengthen social protection networks and programs in order to relieve the effects of the economic program measures upon the neediest people.

The president also directed the government to continue its commitment to rationalize public expenditure. He in return called for higher spending on education and healthcare, as well as more investments in the infrastructure for upgrading services offered to citizens.

The president urged the government to accelerate its IPO program, affirming that the program should include offering portions of every qualified company in different fields in order to activate the stock market, attract more investments and raise the capital of these companies.

“The economic situation witnessed gradual improvement thanks to the economic reform program,” said the finance minister according to the statement.

El-Garhy pointed out that the second follow-up made by the International Monetary Fund’s mission concluded that the Egyptian government is on track.

He added that there have been many positive conclusions achieved. The real economic growth rate jumped to 4.8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2016/2017.

The unemployment rate decreased to 11.9 percent in June 2017, compared to 12.7 percent in June 2016. Primary budget deficit declined by 50 percent during fiscal year 2016/2017 to 1.8 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), against 3.6 percent of the GDP in 2015/2016.

Foreign reserves registered high records, exceeding $36 billion.
International credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s raised Egypt’s outlook from “stable” to “positive”.

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