CAIRO – 10 March 2021: The Egyptian economy was able to maintain a positive growth rate during the second quarter of the current fiscal year 2020-2021 “from October to December 2020”, reaching 2 percent, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Hala El-Said said Wednesday. El-Said clarified in a statement that the average growth rate of the Egyptian economy during the first half of the current fiscal year amounted to about 1.35 percent from July to December last year, compared to 5.6 percent during the same period of the previous fiscal year. She emphasized that expectations indicate that the growth rate will continue to rise during the third and fourth quarters of the current fiscal year, reaching about 2.8 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively. The minister added that many economic activities achieved positive growth rates during the first half of the current fiscal year, such as the transport and storage sectors, agriculture, health, and education, pointing out tothe decline in contraction in economic activities most affected by the crisis, such as tourism, manufacturing industries and the Suez Canal. El-Said pointed out that the global economic recession led to a decline in international trade patterns accompanied by travel restrictions applied in more than 100 countries, which negatively affected the industrial, export and tourism sectors alike.

Source: Egypt Today March 10, 2021 15:45 UTC