Planning Minister announces the economic indicators for Q3 of the current FY 2020/2021

The Egyptian economy has achieved an exceptional performance in light of the Corona pandemic: Says Hala El-Said

Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala El-Said announced the indicators of the third quarter of the current fiscal year 2020/2021 and the first nine months of the same year, and the performance of the Egyptian economy within the framework of these indicators.

El-Said clarified the expectations of international institutions for the growth rates of the Egyptian economy.
El-Said noted that Moody's expects to achieve a growth rate of 5% in 2021/2022, in addition to the expectations of Fitch to achieve a growth rate of 5.3%, in addition to the expectations of the World Bank to achieve a growth rate of 5.8%, and the expectations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) International with a 5.5% growth rate.
El-Said announced that the Egyptian economy continued to achieve positive and increasing growth rates during the third quarter of the current year 2021/2020, amounting to about 2.9 percent, to record the average growth rate during the first nine months of the year about 1.9%, compared to 5.4% in the nine months for the year 2019/2020.

El-Said added that expectations indicate a continued rise in the growth rate during the fourth quarter of this year, ranging from 5.2% to 5.5%.
On the distribution of economic activities in the first nine months of 2021/2020, El-Said explained that the production of the wholesale and retail trade, industry, agriculture, and real estate activities represented about 51.9% of the GDP, following up that the proportion of the telecommunications sector increased from 2.8% to 3.2%, with the sector maintaining a positive and high growth rate of about 16.2%.









Concerning the sectoral growth rate in the third quarter of 2021/2020, El-Said confirmed that many economic activities achieved positive growth rates during the first half of this year, especially the telecommunications, construction, and building sectors, in addition to the sectors related to transportation, storage, agriculture, health, and education.

El-Said reviewed the growth developments that reflect the signs of sectorial recovery in the third quarter of 2021/20, explaining that the construction and building activity continues to grow.


 "The state's efforts represented in infrastructure projects, new cities and roads contributed to supporting and supporting the construction sector, revitalizing the economic cycle and pumping liquidity into the Egyptian economy to face the crisis," El-Said explained.


 El-Said added that there are signs of recovery, coinciding with the extensive spread of vaccination campaigns in developed countries and the decline in infection rates, as many countries have removed travel and movement restrictions, as a gradual recovery is expected for the tourism sector in the coming period, in addition to the recovery of industry, trade and export alike.

Regarding the Suez Canal, El-Said confirmed that what the canal achieved during the past year in the year of the Corona pandemic indicates the success in developing several scenarios to confront crises, and put forward multiple alternatives, declaring that the Suez Canal achieved revenues of about $ 553.6 million in April 2021, which is the highest monthly revenue ever in The history of the Suez Canal, with an increase of 16.3% compared to April 2020.

El-Said indicated that the production index for February 2021 increased for the most important economic activities, bringing the total production index to 103.48% in February 2021, compared to 101.04% in January 2021, recording a growth rate consistent with the GDP growth rate of 2.42%.
Regarding government investments at current prices during the nine months from July to March for the year 2020/2021, El-Said indicated that government investments increased toEGP 164 billion, compared to EGP 113 billion in the first nine months of the fiscal year 2019/2020, an increase of 45%.

El-Said also announced a decline in the inflation rate in April 2021 to reach 4.4% on an annual basis, and 1.2% every month, with net foreign reserves continuing to rise for the tenth month in a row to reach $40.3 billion in April 2021 to cover the country's imports for 8 months.

El-Said explained that the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development forecasts future inflation rates using a macroeconomic model that predicts expected economic developments based on monitoring historical changes across time series.

El-Said added that there are indicators that confirm the strength and sustainability of the growth of the Egyptian economy, as, despite the repercussions of the Corona crisis, the positive indicators of growth rates were associated with a decrease in unemployment and inflation rates, which confirms the quality of the achieved growth and its positive impact on employment.

El-Said indicated that the remittances of Egyptians working abroad continued in the upward trend, recording $ 15.5 billion during the first half of this year, achieving an increase of about 10% compared to the period January-July 2020.


“ Net foreign direct investments began to recover during the first half of 2021/2020, to record net inflows of about $3.4 billion, compared to $2.5 billion during the previous half,” El-Said said.


El-Said added that Egypt has a diversified economy and possesses a large number of flexible sectors such as telecommunications, agriculture, transportation, storage, and construction.

El-Said stressed the importance of preserving economic institutions and entities, as well as preserving employment in these institutions, referring to the decisions of the Egyptian President regarding the irregular employment grant and support for all affected facilities, explaining that Egyptian labor is the human wealth of Egypt and it is national security.