Upward trend for Egypt's economic indicators: Investment Minister

Egyptian government is aiming to achieve better results in upcoming three years, says Salman

There is an upward trend for the economic indicators of the country and the government aims to achieve better results in the upcoming three years, according to Minister of Investment Ashraf Salman.
During a meeting with employees and representatives from the Leadership & Management Development Center, Salman differentiated between key economic indicators in Egypt that were achieved during the FY 2014/2015 compared to the past three years, a Tuesday statement from the ministry read.
With reference to the rate of investments, Salman indicated that it reached approximately 13% in FY 2014/2015, compared to an average of 10% registered in the past three years.
Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) achieved a total amount of $ 5.7bn during the first nine months of FY 2014/2015.
Meanwhile FDI registered an approximate of $ 4.1bn, $3bn, during FY 2014/2013 and FY 2013/2012, respectively.
He further added that there is an obvious significant improvement concerning all economic indicators of the country, reflecting that Egypt has been positively rated by a number of international rating agencies.
In April 2015, Moody's Corporation raised Egypt's credit rating after assessing the country's economy and estimated a decrease in Egypt's budget deficit to 10% of GDP this year, and a decrease in public debt to less than 90% of GDP.
Moody's said the level of Egypt's credit rating rose by one notch after a long-term loan from both foreign and local currencies, bringing each to B3 with keeping Egyptian economy at a "stable" degree.
Moreover, international rating agency Standard and Poor's have affirmed Egypt's long and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings at ‘B-/B', the agency announced 15 May in an official statement, putting the country's outlook at "positive" instead of "stable".
The ratings are supported by positive growth expectations and financial backing by the Gulf, aiding the country's gradual economic recovery, standard and poor's said at the time.
A growth rate of 5.5% is the targeted rate by the Egyptian government for the current Fiscal year which started at the beginning of the month. In order to achieve this goal further improving Egypt's economic indicators and attracting more local and foreign investments is crucial, said Salman.
On Monday, the Ministry of Investment issued updated Egyptian auditing standards to attract investments. The new standards will make the Egyptian market attractive for capital and international companies, Salman said.
The minister stated that some of the most significant amendments in the standard include adding a new list to the financial lists, called the "comprehensive income list" and cancelling the "re-evaluation model" for fixed assets.
Amendments also included adding an extension to the standard revenues to clarify revenues for developers and their difference from established contracts, as well as cancelling the standard treatment for loan costs.
Within the amendments, the standards for consolidated financial statements were separated from the independent financial statements. They also included the exclusion of using copyrights in the independent financial statements, while cancelling the auditing standard in banks and the fair value in real estate investments.
Back to Tuesday's statements from the minister, Salman shed the light on the unemployment rates, he indicated that the rate stood at 12.6% during FY 2014/2015 down from about 13.6% that were registered in the past three years.
Concerning the performance of companies of the public sector, Salman said that they are expected to gain more profits in the upcoming period, mentioning that the leaders and employees of the public sector have a clear set of goals and vision for achieving high rates and increasing added value.
Salman said earlier that Egypt is targeting $15bn in foreign direct investment (FDI) during the fiscal year (FY) 2017/2018.
He had also revealed before that during the same period the government is "targeting to see the poverty rate lower than 20%".
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) had revealed before that in 2013 Egypt's poverty rate reached 26%. Meanwhile in a recent report CAPMAS reflected that approximately 9.2 million children aged between 0-17 years old are living in poverty.