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Egypt Lowers Its Economic Growth Forecast to 4.2% In 2022/23

A general view shows Tahrir Square after its renovation in Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
A general view shows Tahrir Square after its renovation in Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
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Egypt Lowers Its Economic Growth Forecast to 4.2% In 2022/23

A general view shows Tahrir Square after its renovation in Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo
A general view shows Tahrir Square after its renovation in Cairo, Egypt July 13, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany/File Photo

Egypt’s economy is expected to grow 4.2 percent in the current fiscal year ending in June, the cabinet said on Tuesday, much less than previously forecast.

Gross domestic product grew by 3.9 percent in October-December, the second quarter of the fiscal year, while the unemployment rate fell to 7.2 percent, the statement said.

Economic growth slowed from 4.4 percent in July-September, while the unemployment rate slipped from 7.4 percent in that quarter.

Egypt’s fiscal year begins in July and ends in June.

Suez Canal revenues totaled $2.2 billion in the second quarter, up from $1.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.

In November, the planning ministry had said Egypt expected its economy to grow almost 5 percent in 2022/23.

Finance minister Mohamed Maait said in December that Egypt targets GDP growth of 5.5 percent in the 2023/24 fiscal year.

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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.