The Egyptian annual growth is expected to double to 4.3% in fiscal year (FY) 2014/2015, according to the World Bank report, entitled Paving the Way to a Sustained Recovery, issued Sunday. The World Bank expects the increase of economic growth in Egypt to reach 4.5% by 2017, and to increase further thereafter, compared to 2% achieved during FY 2010/2011 to FY 2013/2014. The report said that growth accelerated to 5.6% during the first half of FY 2014/2015, compared to 1.2% in the same period last FY. The report attributed the recent increase in the growth to the recovery of the economic conditions, especially in the tourism and manufacturing sectors. "Growth continues to benefit from resilient consumption and government stimulus, supported by large financial inflows from Gulf States," the report read. The report noted that the latest available official poverty data indicated that more than 26% of Egypt's population lived below the poverty line in FY 2012/2013. Meanwhile, the second quarter (Q2) of the current FY achieved a growth rate of 4.3%, according to preliminary indicators monitoring the economy's performance. Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Araby previously pointed out that the size of the gross domestic product (GDP) at current market prices has achieved an increase of 14% during Q2 and a 15% increase during Q1 of FY 2014-2015. El-Araby added that the estimated size of GDP at market price amounted to EGP 567.4bn during Q2 of FY 2014/2015, compared to EGP 499.3bn during the same period of the previous FY. "GDP reached EGP 1.171tn in Q1 of FY 2014/2015, compared to EGP 1.173tn during the same period of the previous FY," said El-Araby. "The ultimate consumption is still the fundamental catalyst for economic growth, which shares by about 4.3 % in the growth during Q2 of the current FY."
