Egyptian Minister of Planning Hala El-Saeed said on Wednesday that the economic growth rate remained stable during the first quarter of this fiscal year, reaching 5.6 percent. During a cabinet meeting held under Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to review economic and social performance indexes during first quarter of fiscal 2019/2020, the minister said that the figure is considered one of the key indices at this time when global growth rates are slowing down, reaching 3 percent in 2019 and 3.4 percent in 2020. The International Monetary Fund's prospects on the global economy indicate a 5.9 percent growth rate in Egypt in 2020, she said. The minister referred to five sectors that have contributed to the economic growth, namely internal trade, agriculture, real estate activities, industry and communication, saying they contributed 56 percent of the GNP during the first quarter, while the communication, construction, tourism, the Suez Canal, natural gas and industry registered the highest growth rates during the same period. As for public investments, the minister said they reached around EGP 87 billion with a 9 percent growth including EGP 25 billion in government investments with an increase by 20 percent. She reviewed indices on the labor market and unemployment, pointing out that the unemployment rate in Egypt is better than that in comparable countries where it dropped to 7.5 percent during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018/2019, compared with around 9.9 percent in the same quarter the previous year when the sectors of construction, industry, transport and storage registered the highest contribution as per reducing the unemployment rate.
