Finance Minister: Egypt’s economic path is safe and stable despite global challenges

The Egyptian Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohamed Maait, affirmed that Egypt’s economic path is safe and stable, and that the government has developed a flexible strategy to contain internal and external shocks, based on balanced policies; This contributes to having a greater ability to deal positively with the interlocking repercussions of global challenges that have led to unprecedented pressure on state budgets at a time when access to international markets has become more difficult and costly in light of restrictive policies and high interest rates.

Maait revealed a number of positive indicators of the performance of the Egyptian economy and the state’s general budget, most notably the increase in foreign direct investment inflows during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, by 98%.

The services sector also grew, which led to a significant improvement in the balance of payments, and the revenues of the Suez Canal reached a record high of about $2.3 billion, an increase of about 35% over last year.

He explained that the indicators for the first seven months of the current fiscal year in the general budget were positive, and the budget achieved a primary surplus of about 33.7 billion pounds, compared to 15.2 billion pounds for the same period of the previous fiscal year, and the increase in tax revenues to about 18.9% as a result of the development and digitization work that enabled Expanding the tax base, counting the tax community more accurately, and achieving justice among competitors.

He stated that the indicators for the fiscal year ending in June 2022 were positive, despite the severity of global challenges, and the government succeeded in converting the initial budget deficit, which lasted for more than 21 consecutive years, into a primary surplus of 1.3% in June 2022.

He pointed out that for the fifth year in a row, we target 1.4% during the current fiscal year, pointing to recording the highest growth rate since 2008 at 6.6% and the decline in the budget deficit rate of GDP to 6.1%.

He revealed that the Egyptian government aims to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio to 80% by 2026/2027, maintain a primary surplus, record growth rates in the medium term ranging from 6 to 7%, and reduce the average debt life to range from 4.5 to 5 years on average. By diversifying debt portfolio financing tools.