Planning min. reviews economic progress after 26 months of reforms

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Wed, 16 Jan 2019 - 11:11 GMT

BY

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 - 11:11 GMT

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

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

CAIRO – 16 January 2019: After 26 months of applying economic reforms, Egypt has achieved a growth rate of 5.3 percent by the end of 2018, recording the highest economic growth rate in 10 years, Minister of Planning Hala el-Saeed said.

Saeed clarified that growth was driven by investments, with 70 percent going for foreign trade and 30 percent going for consumption, commenting that this is a balanced growth rate that reflected on the decline of the unemployment rates to 9.9 percent.

This came during his speech at the conference "Progressing: The Future of Real Estate Investment in Egypt", which is a prelude to the Cityscape Egypt exhibition and conference that will be held from March 27 to 30.

"There is growth in non-oil exports, with an increase in foreign exchange reserves to cover more than 3 to 9 months of imports,” Saeed stated.

Saeed also said that Egypt has issued a package of legislative reforms that aim at encouraging and creating an investment environment, such as investment laws, market exit laws, and the industrial licensing law, stressing that all these laws aim at simplifying the procedures for establishing projects and creating a suitable business environment.

The minister emphasized the importance of supporting the Small Enterprise Development Authority, as the authority is part of the institutional reforms, pointing out that the sector of small and medium enterprises is a vital sector in a young country aiming to achieve geographical and spatial justice, enabling those projects to spread in different villages and provinces.

She added that the ministry aims to obtain data for the informal sector through community participation because of its large size, noting that the sector needs support to enter the formal system and benefit everyone.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) started the first electronic calculation of economic establishments and the data will be issued in October, Saeed pointed out.

Saeed stressed that it was necessary to make a developmental boost in infrastructure, road network projects, infrastructure and technological network as well as new and renewable energy projects to create a suitable climate for the private sector after a period of slowdown in economic growth since 2011.

The minister of planning explained that during the first half of this year, public investments amounted to about LE 175 billion, with an increase of about 12, percent compared to the first half of the previous year.

Regarding the industrial sector, she said that Egypt targets to increase the rate of industrial growth from 6.3 percent in 18/2019 to 10 percent in 21/2022. The country also aims to carry out reforms in the promising sectors to give these sectors the opportunity to start and expand. She further clarified that these promising sectors include the real estate and the construction sectors, which are of great importance and possess a great ability to grow, create jobs and link with various sectors.

The construction sector's relative weight in the growth rate is 17 percent, in addition to providing 13 percent of the job opportunities generated.

On updating Egypt's vision 2030, Saeed pointed out that the program was launched three years ago, and it was necessary to take into account all the global, local and regional variables, adding that when the vision was set there was no economic reform program. She also noted that the population issue has become very urgent. "Every year we have a new country in Egypt, where we increase by 2.5 percent per year," which requires new resources, pointing to the issue of water scarcity.

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