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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Business
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat

Egypt Seeks Increasing Private Sector Participation in Economic Activities

The Egyptian Finance Minister said his country's economy is one of the few in the world that achieved positive growth rates (Reuters)

Egypt has a new document for the state ownership policy, a national strategy aimed at maximizing the participation of the private sector in economic activity, announced Finance Minister Mohamed Maait.

The Minister indicated that this "reassures" local investors, attracts foreign investments, and enhances the confidence of international institutions.

Maait met with representatives of the US Export-Import Bank on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

"Egypt has become more attractive to investments with promising development opportunities based on a supportive and strong infrastructure," said Maait.

He indicated that the country is more capable of absorbing investment activities and spent $400 billion on its development over the past seven years.

The economic plan to recover from the current global crisis includes a package of measures stimulating foreign and local investments, explained the minister.

The US Export-Import Bank can play a pivotal role in promoting economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, said Maait, calling on the Bank to take advantage of investment opportunities, especially in the sectors of energy, petrochemicals, water desalination, medicine, communications, information technology, iron and steel, and transportation and communications.

The Minister hoped the Bank would play a low-cost financing role for green projects, looking forward to a more significant role for international partners in financing development projects, especially green projects in Egypt.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Egypt's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'B+' with a Stable Outlook for the fourth time during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maait said the new ratings show international confidence in Egypt's ability to face global economic challenges.

Maait added that the Egyptian economy is diversified and growing to confirm that it is on the right path, adding that financial and economic reforms made Egypt more solid and coherent in dealing with global crises.

He indicated that his country recorded the highest semi-annual growth rate since the beginning of the millennium at nine percent of GDP between July and December 2021.

The Egyptian economy is one of the few economies that managed to achieve positive growth rates.

He pointed out that the IMF increased its expectations in the World Economic Outlook report for the growth rate of the Egyptian economy from 5.6 to 5.9 percent by the end of June.

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