Egypt to record growth rate of 7% in 2021/22: Minister

CAIRO – 5 August 2018: Egypt aims to achieve a growth rate of 7 percent during fiscal year 2021-2022 and to start floating shares of 23 companies on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), according to Minister of Finance Mohamed Ma’it.

This came during Ma’it’s speech at the annual meetings of the African Caucus for the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), held in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The minister affirmed that several legislations and procedures were recently issued to support the Egyptian economy, including the settlement of tax disputes and the provision of tax incentives for small and medium enterprises, the improvement of the payment of electronic taxes within the framework of initiatives to support electronic payments and the issuance of the unified tax law.

“The Egyptian government has been implementing a program of economic reform since 2016 to achieve sustainable growth, improve the business climate, support social protection networks, face the challenges that the Egyptian economy has suffered over decades, support the private sector to create jobs and empower young people and women,” Ma’it stated.

The annual meetings of the African Caucus for the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are held in Sharm El-Sheikh on August 5 and 6, under the patronage of Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli.

These meetings are organized by the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), and in the presence of representatives from 40 countries from inside and outside the African continent.

In 2016, Egypt launched the government’s IPO program to offer shares over three to five years in several state-owned companies in fields such as petroleum, services, chemicals and real estate.

The state’s IPO program comes in light of the economic reform program adopted by Egypt and is conducted under the supervision of the Ministry of Investment.

It covers a period of three to five years, aiming to offer partial stakes in some state-owned companies on the stock exchange (EGX). It will serve as a main tool to attract local and foreign capital flows to Egypt.

It also aims to increase funding to Egyptian companies and maximize the benefit from state assets.

Planning Minister Hala el-Saeed said earlier that Egypt's growth rate for 2017/2018 hit its highest level in ten years as it recorded 5.3 percent against 4.2 percent in the prior year.

The economic growth rate reached 5.4 percent during the third and fourth quarters of 2017/2018 fiscal year, she added.