CAIRO, April 3, 2018 - Egypt would witness stronger economic performance in the coming period, after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi was relected for a second term in office, Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy said on Tuesday. In his statements to the Middle East News Agency (MENA), El-Garhy said the Ministry aims to reduce the budget deficit to 4 per cent by 2022, pointing out that the State will continue its economic reform programme to restore the economic stability. He pointed out that the Ministry has raised its outlook for the budget deficit in the current fiscal year to be 9.5-9.7 per cent of the GDP. In earlier statements, Minister Elgarhi said that economic growth has increased in the beginning of this year to 5.2 per cent, which is identical to the ministry's outlook for the growth in second quarter of this year. In January, the Fitch Ratings Inc., one of the three biggest credit rating agencies in the world, raised Egypt's long-term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) from "stable" to "positive".
