Egypt allocates LE 133B to electricity investments

CAIRO – 3 September 2018: Egypt directed around LE 133.1 billion to investments in electricity sector during 2018/2019, according to Ministry of Planning Hala el-Saeed.

The minister clarified that the directed investments captures 14.1 percent of total investments of the current year plan to meet the increasing demand on electricity whether from productive sectors as agriculture and industry, service sectors or household uses.

She noted that electricity and energy sector is a rapidly growing field, adding that the sector targets to divert the source of its production and to expand the uses of electricity.

“The sector also aims to improve the efficiency, transport and distribution of electricity, and to cooperate with Arab and African countries in electricity linkage to turn Egypt into an electric hub,” she added.

Regarding targeted national projects, she referred to replacing wireless lines with underground cables, which is estimated to cost more than LE 1 billion.

She revelaed that there is also another project to upgrade labs and research at the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority with investments of LE 81 million.

"Also, a nuclear power station worth LE 5 billion is set to be established with the aim to produce 4 percent of electricity by 2030,” Saeed stated.

She referred to other projects to generate electricity from hydroelectric sources with investments of LE 7.4 billion, and to develop and use renewable energy with investments worth LE 3.2 billion.

The minister announced earlier in several events allocating investments in the current year's budget to agriculture, developing Upper Egypt and increasing net foreign direct investment (FDI).

She said that the medium-term plan of sustainable development aims to increase FDI to $11 billion in 2018/2019 and to gradually escalate to about $20 billion in 2021/2022 from $7.9 billion in 2017/2018.

The minister stated that the plan targets achieving a high growth rate of real gross domestic product (GDP), reaching 5.8 percent in the first year of the plan 2018/2019, and to gradually rise to 8 percent in the plan’s last year 2021/2022, with an increase per capita of real GDP at an average of more than 3 percent in the first year of the plan to record 6 percent in the last year of the plan.

Egypt's growth rate for 2017/2018 fiscal year hit its highest level in 10 years as it recorded 5.3 percent against 4.2 percent in the year before.

Saeed added that the plan aims to provide about 750,000 job opportunities in 2018/2019 by developing the absorptive capacity of the labor market to gradually increase and provide 870,000 opportunities in 2021/2022.

The objectives of the medium-term sustainable development plan also include raising the savings rate to about 11 percent in 2018/2019, gradually increasing to about 23 percent by the end of the plan and increasing the investment rate from about 16.9 percent of GDP in 2017/2018 to 18 percent in the first year of the plan, and 25.6 percent in the last year, Saeed pointed out.