Egypt’s gross domestic product (gdp) grew 5.6 percent in the July to September quarter, announced Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed.
Egypt is targeting 6 percent GDP growth in the 2019/20 fiscal year that began on July 1. Its GDP grew 5.6 percent last fiscal year.
With the exception of the oil sector, Egypt's economy has been struggling to attract foreign investors since the 2011 revolution that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. Egypt’s fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30.
On Monday, Trade and Industry Ministry of Egypt said that non-petroleum exports in Egypt reached $19.2 billion in the first 3 quarters of 2019, seeing a 3 percent increase in comparison with the same period of 2018.
The United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Italy, Britain, and the UAE accounted for 37 percent of Egyptian exports, the ministry said in a press statement.
Earlier this year, the ministry announced it was targeting EGP6 billion per year in export subsidies through the Export Development Fund starting from fiscal year 2019/20.
Next month, Egypt will complete an economic reform program linked to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan that Egypt signed and received in full. The aim of the program is to reduce the budget deficit and the current account balance.
Egypt advanced 6 places in the World Bank's report “Doing Business 2020”.
The report noted that the Egyptian government has undertaken several reforms to improve the investment climate and simplify procedures in several areas, most notably the establishment of companies.
The Bank pointed out that Egypt has implemented a series of radical reforms in cooperation with the relevant government agencies within an integrated methodology for reform, including legislative reforms.
The Bank’s statement pointed out that Egypt has advanced in the tax reimbursement index from 159 to 156, as a result of the application of a new electronic system for the submission of value-added tax and income tax, with electronic payment of the payments associated with them. The new system was applied comprehensively to all companies in the country.
The World Bank said Egypt was among the top 25 countries in the world in terms of the number of reforms in this year's 2020 report, reflecting the sustainability of the government's commitment to improving the investment climate and simplifying procedures for investors.
