Egypt records GDP of 5.45 in Q3 2017/18: Min.

CAIRO - 18 May 2018: Egypt recorded a gross domestic product (GDP) of 5.4 percent during the third quarter of fiscal year 2017/2018, Minister of Planning Hala el-Saeed said.

She added during a press conference that 400,000 job opportunities have been provided in the third quarter, distributed among 20 percent in the agriculture sector, 14.1 percent in the retail and trade sector, 7.5 percent in the transportation sector and 12 percent in the manufacturing sector.

On Monday, May 7, Saeed stated that the Egyptian economy is now a job provider, stating that the average of the annual job opportunities reached 710,000 jobs in 2015/2016 and 2016/2017, which contributed in reducing the unemployment rate to 11.3 percent in the second quarter of 2017/2018.

She also expected the unemployment rate to continue to decrease gradually to record 10.4 percent during the fiscal year 2018/2019 and to achieve 8.5 percent by 2021/2022.

The minister clarified that all sectors recorded positive growth rates, including tourism sector and Suez Canal sector, which increased its revenues by 17.5 percent.

She added that there are five sectors which contribute to the increase of revenues.
“The Purchasing Managers Index reached 50 points from 42 points in November 2016 and the inflation rate witnessed a slight decrease to 12 percent,” the minister stated.

She also said that the International Trade Index witnessed an increase of 12 percent in nine months, clarifying that the trade deficit decreased by 11 percent.

The minister said earlier that the Egyptian economy is now pushed by the investment rate instead of the consumption rate which is reflected on the growth rate to record 5.3 percent in the second quarter of 2017/2018, reaching the highest Egyptian growth rate since 2008/2009.

Saeed said that Egypt’s growth rate pushed the government and international organizations to raise their expectations of the economic growth to 5.3 percent currently, up from 4.6 percent before implementing the reform program.

She added that Egypt is targeting a growth rate of 5.8 percent, to be accelerated gradually to 8 percent by 2021/2022.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected that Egypt will record a gross domestic product (GDP) of 5.2 percent in the current fiscal year and to reach 5.5 percent next year, with an increase of 0.7 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

The IMF further anticipated the GDP to record 6 percent in 2023.