Reducing inflation is Egypt’s top priority, says minister

Reuters/Susana Vera

• Maait predicts 4.2% growth for 2025
• Government to divest more assets
• Private sector to play greater role

Reducing inflation in Egypt to align with the central bank’s target is the government’s main priority, the country’s finance minister, Mohamed Maait, has announced.

Inflation in Egypt fell to 33 percent in March from 38 percent in September, passing the central bank’s target range of a 5 to 9 percentage point fall.

Maait, speaking at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) governor talks series in Washington, said the country’s economic growth was likely to rise to 4.2 percent in the next fiscal year, starting July, from its current 2.8 percent.

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He said that the government intended to divest more state assets, fostering more private sector involvement, boosting productivity, and generating revenue to reduce national debt.

“Giving the main role to the private sector to lead the country is in the benefit of the state. Why? Because we have close to one million young people coming to the labour market looking for jobs every year,” Maait was quoted as saying by Reuters.

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Maait highlighted the potential for the private sector to create far more jobs – up to 900,000 – compared to the government’s capacity to generate around 100,000 new jobs.

The World Bank downgraded Egypt’s growth forecast for the current fiscal year this week to 2.8 percent, the lowest for 11 years, despite recent investment in the country of nearly $60 billion.

In its latest Middle East and North Africa economic update, the bank blamed “sluggish industrial sector performance” and the effects of war in the region for the cut of 0.7 percentage points in its prediction for Egypt’s growth.

As Egypt battles to reduce inflation, it has been promised nearly $60 billion in new funding and investments from the IMF, the World Bank and the European Union.