CAIRO: Egypt’s economy is projected to grow by 5 to 5.2 percent in during fiscal year 2015/2016 (to end June 30,) while it recorded a 4.1 percent growth rate in the previous fiscal year, Investment Minister Ashraf Salman said Tuesday.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated in a Friday report that Egypt’s economic growth is expected to accelerate in 2015 to 4-5 percent, reflecting a pickup in investment.
“Egypt is also targeting $10 billion foreign direct investment during this fiscal year,” Salman said in his speech at a lunch banquet hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo.
Salman further noted that Egypt hopes to raise $2.5 billion from expected land sales to Egyptians abroad by the end of the current fiscal year, including around $800 as of December-end.
He added that the government is also in talks to arrange budgetary support loans from the World Bank and African Bank of Development for the next three years.
“Egypt’s hard currency resources are expected to pick up during the second quarter of FY2015/2016,” Salman predicted, citing the sharp slip in the country foreign reserves to a 3.9 percent dip in Egyptian exports last year.