Al-Sisi’s economic progress: Promises vs. actions

Prior to his election, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi released his electoral platform on 20 May, following wide criticism for withholding it. The platform did not specify the number of projects that will be launched, but rather focused on the general sectors.

A year after his election, Daily News Egypt evaluates Al-Sisi’s economic performance in comparison to the promises set in his economic platform, and the goals set by his government earlier this fiscal year.

GDP Growth and budget deficit

Al-Sisi promised gross domestic product (GDP) growth will be around 7% by fiscal year (FY) 2017/2018. During the first half of FY 2014/2015, GDP growth recorded 5.6%, up from 1.2 percent growth during the same period the previous year. On Tuesday, Minister of Investment Ashraf Salman predicted that growth will reach 4.5% by the end of the fiscal year.

Salman also stated that the budget deficit to reach about 10.5% during the current fiscal year. The public debt recorded EGP 2.1tn in March 2015, representing 93.8% of the GDP.

This falls short of the expectations set by Al-Sisi’s government in the state budget at the beginning of the fiscal year. The government was hoping to decrease the budget deficit to 10% of GDP, pushing debt down to 90% of GDP in the fiscal year.