Egypt's economic growth is expected to rise to 2.8 percent during the third quarter of the current FY2020/2021, which ends in March, and to climb to 5.3 percent by the end of the fiscal year — which ends in June, according to Egypt's Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said. El-Said made her statements while reviewing the Egyptian economy's performance indices in the weekly meeting of the Egyptian cabinet held on Wednesday. El-Said noted that Egypt's economy managed to maintain its positive growth during the second quarter of FY2020/21 to post 2 percent. She added that the growth rate average in the first half of FY2020/21 recorded 1.3 percent, compared to 5.6 percent at the same time during FY2019/20, driven by the COVID-19 repercussions. During the meeting, the minister pointed out that transport, storing, agriculture, health, and education are the sectors that saw positive growth rates during the first half of FY2020/21, while the contraction of the tourism, Suez Canal, and process industries receded. The minister also said that the COVID-19 crisis caused global losses worth $11 trillion and a decline in the global trade flow by 9 percent in 2020, while foreign direct investments sharply decreased globally by 49 percent during the first half of 2020.
