The Economist: Egyptian economy will edge up to 5.6 per cent in 2002
Egypt, Economics, 5/9/2001

The Economist has recently anticipated that the growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Egypt will edge up to 5.6 per cent in year 2002, after scoring 4.8 per cent in 2001.

According to the economic performance within the first quarter of this year, the Economist has placed Egypt in the fourth rank this year and the third next year among samples of 25 emerging markets, including Poland, Turkey, Indonesia, India, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa.

Moreover, Egypt has outstripped Israel, South Africa Turkey and Poland in terms of growth forecasts, the British magazine said.

It expected that the current account as a part of the GDP will hit -1.5 percent this year against -1.6 percent in year 2002.

Meanwhile, the World Bank experts have recently voiced their belief that the Egyptian economy has not yet reached the stage of "crisis." However, the future seems good if further attention will be paid to human resources, improving investment conditions, increasing exports and liberalizing trade, the Bank experts see.

The recently adopted exchange rate is a good start to have further flexibility although it should be periodically reviewed, according to the Head of the Mideast Affairs in the Socio-Economic Development Department.

Although the private sector investments have remarkably increased in Egypt in the recent years, yet moat of these investments focused on the real estate and were not of productive nature, he elaborated.

A recent report, issued by the World Bank in March, noted that unemployment is the major obstacle facing the Egyptian economy which needs to provide 500,000 job opportunities for the university graduates annually. To lower the unemployment rate, the economy has to achieve a growth rate of 6 per cent annually, a move that will rely on increasing savings, investments and exports as well as further integration into the world economy, the report said.

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