Egypt revises up growth forecast for 2017-18

Egypt has revised its GDP forecast for the 2017-18 fiscal year beginning in July up to 5.3-5.5 per cent, from 4.8 per cent previously, Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed said on Saturday.

Saeed said the economy is expected to have grown 5.2-5.3 per cent during the second quarter of the current fiscal year, which ended in December. The economy is expected to grow by 6 per cent in the next fiscal year, she added.

Egypt’s economy has struggled since a 2011 uprising drove tourists and foreign investors away, two main sources of hard currency, but the government hopes that IMF-backed reforms it has embarked on over the past year will put it back on track.