The COVID-19 pandemic's impact is forecast to spread across fiscal years (FYs) 2019/2020 and 2020/2021, the report indicated, noting that “growth is expected to have remained positive.”
Egypt’s GDP stood at 5.6% in FY 2018/2019, yet estimates indicated a decline to 3.5% in FY 2019/2020, the report added.
The economic growth is predicted to further decrease to 2.3% in FY 2020/2021, before rebounding to pre-COVID-19 levels in FY 2021/2022, the report highlighted.
Sectors such textiles received a hard hit by the weakening of the global logistics industry, according to the World Bank’s detailed MENA Economic Update report on October 19th.
Private business is likely to remain subdued due to “disrupted production and international trade,” the report added.
“Private consumption in the near-term is expected to remain constrained as households’ incomes are affected by increased joblessness and salary cuts. Subsequently, poverty is forecast to increase, particularly in urban areas,” the World Bank noted.
Government debt would rise from 90.2% of GDP in FY 2018/2019 to 93.8% of GDP in FY 2019/2020, the global institution underlined.
Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania al Mashat reportedly stated that the consecutive positive reports on the local economy reflect the effectiveness of the state economic reform program during the 2016-2019 period.
Fitch Solutions earlier expected the state’s growth to stand at 3.5% by the end of 2020.
International forecasts last April revealed that the North African country’s GDP would top other economies in the region.
