Egypt`s Economy Still Able to Face Coronavirus Repercussions

Mohamed Maait, Minister of Finance, said that the Egyptian economy is stable and still able to face the repercussions of the emerging Coronavirus.

During his meeting with the Italian ambassador in Cairo Giampaolo Cantini, Maait added that the elaborate implementation of the economic reform program and dealing with a proactive methodology helped a lot in containing the repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis.

Maait explained that the economic reform program helped in mitigating the coronavirus shock, so that, as Bloomberg mentioned, Egypt became one of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world during 2020.

Egypt came to the second-highest economic growth rate in the world by 3.6%, according to the report of the International Monetary Fund and the reduction of debt-to-GDP ratios from 108% in the fiscal year 2016/2017 to about 88% by the end of June 2020.

Maait added that Egypt achieved a primary surplus of 1.8% in the last fiscal year, while debt and deficit rates doubled in other emerging countries and grew negatively.

He explained that the government entered the pandemic phase with a stronger position than it was two years ago. He said that confirms that Egypt is on the right path as Egypt has achieved its financial and economic targets before the COVID-19 crisis.

The minister went on saying: "This made us have many motives to complete the process of reform and development to improve the standard of living, and to continue efforts to support the industrial and agricultural sectors to meet the needs of citizens, especially in light of the pandemic."

He stressed the government's keenness to stimulate the investment environment, to encourage investors to expand their productive activities in a way that contributes to attracting new investments and providing more job opportunities.

He pointed out that Egypt is looking forward to strengthening bilateral cooperation relations with Italy, especially in the economic field, in a way that serves the interests of the two peoples, in addition to exchanging international experiences in combating the emerging Coronavirus.

On his part, the Italian ambassador in Cairo praised the success of the Egyptian government in dealing positively and flexibly with the Coronacrisis, in a manner that won the praise of international institutions.

He explained that the Italian government is looking forward to strengthening bilateral cooperation relations with Egypt in various fields, especially in the economic aspect, and to exchange experiences in combating the emerging coronavirus.