Egypt's Minister of Planning and Administrative Reform Hala El-Saeed said that the country's GDP rose to 5.3 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, which began in July, compared with 5.2 percent in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported on Friday. According a statement by El-Saeed, the natural gas sector achieved a positive growth rate in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018/2019, reaching 21.8 percent, followed by telecommunications sector with 16.8 percent, the Suez Canal revenues with 12.3 percent, and the construction sector with 6 percent. The statement added that 73 percent of the contribution to the GDP comes from the following sectors: 13 percent from the natural gas sector, 10 percent from the wholesale and retail sectors, 9 percent from the agricultural sector, and 7 percent from the telecommunication sector. The minister stated that the growth rate of non-petroleum exports increased by 1.3 percent in the first quarter of the 2018/2019 fiscal year. The statement added that 36 percent of Egypt's non-petroleum exports were to Arab countries while 30 percent of those exports went to EU countries. The chemical exports achieved the highest growth rate at 15 percent, followed by garments at 8 percent and textiles by 6.7 percent, the statement read.
