Egypt targets growth rate of 10% in 2029/30

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Thu, 01 Nov 2018 - 09:53 GMT

BY

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 - 09:53 GMT

Minister of Planning and Administrative Reform Hala el Saeed - File Photo

Minister of Planning and Administrative Reform Hala el Saeed - File Photo

CAIRO – 1 November 2018: The Egyptian government targets to achieve a high real gross domestic product (GDP) during the period of 2018-2022, Minister of Planning Hala el-Saeed said, setting 5.8 percent for 2018/2019, to gradually rise to 8 percent and 10 percent in 2029/2030.

Saeed added that high growth rates will be reflected on increased employment opportunities and improved standard of living as well as better services for citizens.

This came during Saeed’s participation in the High Level Session on Population Policies and Development Planning in the Arab Region: National Trends and Responses, on the sidelines of "The Regional Conference on Population and Development: Five Years after the 2013 Cairo Declaration" that takes place from October 30 - November 1 in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Egypt continues to face many big challenges, the most important of which is the increase in population growth rates (2.3 percent -108 million in 2022/2023), and the negative impact of its continuous increase on the return of development efforts, Saeed said.

The minister said it is necessary to continue dealing with population and development issues from a comprehensive perspective, integrating social and economic empowerment programs with population programs, and addressing the challenge posed by population growth on the achievement of sustainable development goals.

Saeed further stressed the importance of integrating young people into family planning and reproductive health programs, while continuing to empower women as development inputs.

In 2017, Egypt launched the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Women 2030, which is given special attention by the political leadership, according to Saeed.

The ministerpreviously referred that the overall economic and administrative reform program initiated by the Egyptian government in 2016 helped the country restore macroeconomic stability, with a growth rate of 5.3 percent at the end of 2017/2018, compared to a growth rate of 2.9 percent in 2014.

Saeed said that Egypt is expected to achieve a growth rate of 7.5 to 8 percent by the end of a four-year plan.

Egypt embarked on a bold economic reform program that included the introduction of taxes, such as the value-added tax (VAT), and cutting energy subsidies, with the aim of trimming the budget deficit.

Egypt also provides facilities and legislative reforms to encourage investors to invest in Egypt.

The legislative and regulatory aspects include the issuance of several laws and regulations, namely the new investment law and its executive regulations; the law of restructuring and reconciliation, bankruptcy and postponement of financing and privatization; and the amendments of the law of companies and the capital market and their executive regulations.

The new investment law includes a number of clear incentives and full guarantees for investors, providing them with several incentives and treats men, women, Egyptian and foreign investors equally.

The law also stipulates that foreign employees should not exceed 20 percent of the total number of workers in the projects established by non-Egyptian investors.

Moreover, the bankruptcy law regulates the financial and administrative restructuring for failed projects and companies, eliminating prison sentences in bankruptcy cases and limiting punishments to a monetary fine.

It also aims to minimize the need of companies or individuals to resort to the courts and to simplify post-bankruptcy procedures.

The state also established the investors’ service center that provides services to aid in the procedures of establishing a firm, its contract, documentation, licensing and its commercial registration.

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