El-Said highlighted the importance of identifying priority sectors when developing expected scenarios for economic growth
Planning and Economic Development Minister Hala el-Said reviewed expected scenarios related to Egypt’s economic performance and indices in the coming period in a recent cabinet meeting.
El-Said presented medium-term economic growth scenarios, including achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth as well as increasing work opportunities for citizens, to Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and cabinet members.
To meet these goals, the minister pointed out that it would require high levels of employment and balanced investment, along with targeting favorable sectors with high added value through the structural reforms program.
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She highlighted investment as the main driver of growth, particularly within middle-income countries, noting that the government’s stimulus packages allocated towards circumventing COVID-19’s effects supported growth.
The packages are estimated to have reached EGP 100 billion, and along with other initiatives launched by the president and the Central Bank of Egypt, to raise growth rates by about 0.3 percentage points in FY 2019/2020 and by about 0.6 percentage points in FY 2020/2021.
El-Said highlighted the importance of identifying priority sectors when developing expected scenarios for economic growth.
She explained that indicators showed that the significant contribution to economic growth during the past decade was no longer limited to traditional sectors of high relative weight such as agriculture and industry. These now included favorable high-growth sectors such as the telecommunications sector and some activities related to the transport and storage sector.
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Among the least volatile sectors were agriculture, transport, trade and communications, adding that these are targeted by the structural reform program as they comply with a number of targeted criteria, primarily its relative contribution to growth and stability as a sector.
