The financial performance indicators for the first half of the current fiscal year showed reassuring signs, Prime Minister Mostafa said.

Average economic growth reached 9 per cent between July and December 2021, the highest growth rate in 20 years, Madbouli added in a speech delivered on behalf Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait at a fintech conference organised by Al-Ahram Establishment on Sunday.

Unemployment also declined to 7.4 per cent by the end of December thanks to the growing number of mega national projects, Madbouli noted.

In addition, we have managed to reduce budget deficit by 50 per cent over the past five years, and we plan to take it further down to 6.7 per cent by June, against 7.4 per cent in June 2021, Madbouli pointed out.

We are also working for decreasing public-debt-to-GDP to less than 90 per cent during the FY2022/2023, while extending debt term to around 5 years in the medium run, instead of the 3.4 year-term, the premier said.

Madbouli also highlighted the positive role of digital transformation, as part of the government’s comprehensive economic reform program, for mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping government workflow in order, and achieving a positive economic growth of 3.6 and 3.3 per cent during the FY2019/2020 and FY2020/2021, respectively.

Source: State Information Service Egypt