Egypt is expecting an estimated rate of economic growth ranging between 2.8 and 4 percent in the financial year 2021-2022, the country's Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Sunday. The North African country is reaching positive growth rates, Maait said, calling it a great achievement in light of the global conditions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. He added that the percentage of growth varied according to how each person perceived it sectorally, and that industries such as tourism and aviation were significantly affected by the pandemic. "We have a priority to make room for the private sector's participation in development projects," the minister said. Egypt had been hoping for growth ranging between 6 and 6.5 percent before the pandemic crisis broke out. According to data from the Egyptian Cabinet, the country managed to top the emerging market economies in containing the rate of inflation during the current year despite the global repercussions of the virus crisis. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the performance of the Egyptian economy exceeded expectations, as it recorded the largest annual fall in inflation rates among emerging markets for 2020 compared to 2019, with a decline of 8.2 percentage points.
