Cairo – Mubasher: Finance minister Amr El Garhy on Sunday said that the Egyptian government was working on a medium-term scheme to lower its public debt to 80% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020.
The government is also looking to allocate a portion of support funds available to social protection programmes and other investment projects, he said in a statement.
The Egyptian government is trying to increase Egypt’s stake in global trade by expanding in exports, particularly non-oil ones, the minister stated, indicating the most populous Arab country’s exports did not exceed $20 billion in 2015.
El Garhy noted that Egypt’s public debt will be reduced by trimming the overall budget deficit and achieving a preliminary surplus of 2% of GDP in addition to raising the average income per capita.
The preliminary budget statement for fiscal year 2018/2019 indicated that the Egyptian government was looking to achieve an economic growth of 5.8% as well as reduce unemployment to below 11%.
