Economy Egypt’s GDP growth likely to slip to 4.2% in 2022/23 fiscal year By Reuters March 15, 2023 Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany Egypt’s economy is expected to grow 4.2 percent in the current fiscal year ending in June, the cabinet said, much less than previously forecast. Gross domestic product grew by 3.9 percent in October-December, the second quarter of the fiscal year, while the unemployment rate fell to 7.2 percent, the statement said. Economic growth slowed from 4.4 percent in July-September, while the unemployment rate slipped from 7.4 percent in that quarter. Egypt’s fiscal year begins in July and ends in June. Suez Canal revenues totalled $2.2 billion in the second quarter, up from $1.7 billion in the same period a year earlier. In November, the planning ministry had said Egypt expected its economy to grow almost five percent in the current fiscal 2022/23. Finance minister Mohamed Maait said in December that Egypt targets GDP growth of 5.5 percent in the 2023/24 fiscal year. Earlier this month data from statistics agency Capmas showed the official annual headline inflation rate leapt in February to a higher-than-expected 31.9 percent, its highest in five and a half years. On the other hand, core inflation skyrocketed to a record 40.26 percent,. The soaring inflation follows a series of currency devaluations starting in March 2022, a prolonged shortage of foreign currency and a continuing backlog of getting imports out of ports.
