Egypt's economic growth rate is expected to rise during the current fiscal year 2014/2015 from 3.5% to 3.8%, due to increases in the manufacturing industries' rates, along with the operations of the Suez Canal project, said Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Araby during the Builders of Egypt Forum. The Builders of Egypt Forum kicked off on Tuesday, set to last for two days. The forum was inaugurated by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb along with ministry representatives, a delegation of ambassadors of Arab countries in Egypt, and senior figures from the construction industry. El-Araby noted that the primary indicators during the first quarter of the fiscal year showed an increase of 6.8% in growth rate, the highest since 2007, compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year, when all the indices were negative for most sectors. "The increase in growth rates during the first quarter of the current fiscal year is due to the 26.5% rise in manufacturing industries, excluding petroleum and refining, compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal year," El-Araby said. He added that industrial activities include the tobacco and nonferrous metal industries, electronics, vehicles and printing activities, and medical devices. El-Araby confirmed that the construction sector will witness the biggest leap in the upcoming period as a result of the new national projects, which will increase investment rates. President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and the government are set to offer a slew of projects to domestic and foreign investors at the Sharm El-Sheikh economic summit in March 2015. El-Araby further confirmed that the government will repay EGP 2.5bn of delayed debts to the construction companies, as it is keen to support those companies in order to complete the stalled projects and implement new ones.
