The Minister of Planning, Hala Al-Saeed, announced on Friday that the government aims to achieve a steady increase in the economic growth rate of 6% in the next fiscal year (FY), up from 5.6% in the current FY. She added that total investments in the coming FY are estimated at EGP 1.17tn, noting that public investments next FY will account for 46% of the total investments at a value of EGP 534.4bn. In that context, the minister pointed out that the first nine months of the current FY saw a growth of 19% in the performance of public investments, reaching EGP 310bn, of which 26% are government investments at a value of EGP 90bn. Furthermore, she declared that the plan in the next FY aims to witness the contribution of net exports and investments by 80% from the targeted growth for the next FY, with a decline for consumption contribution in the targeted growth. As for the sectoral contribution to the economic growth target for the FY 2019/20, Al-Saeed explained that all economic sectors contribute positively toward economic growth, noting the activity of the extraction sector, especially natural gas, which is the dynamic factor in growth. In addition, the minister discussed the main features of the medium-term sustainable development plan for FY 2019/20, which is based on the comprehensive economic and social reform programme and constitutional entitlements, as well as the implementation of the objectives of Egypt's Vision 2030. Al-Saeed added that next FY`s plan aims to reduce the unemployment rate to about 9.1% through expanding the capacity of the market by about 800,000-900,000 jobs annually. The minister of planning also pointed out that the plan of FY 2019/20 aims to control the population growth rate to stop a range of 2.3%. Al-Saeed said that the ministry will establish the first system of monitoring and evaluating the performance of the government apparatus, including 2,800 performance indicators to measure the performance of 35 ministries and government bodies on a quarterly basis.
