Egypt’s economy records growth rate of 2% in the second quarter

Egypt’s economy recorded an annualised growth rate of 2% in the second quarter of its 2020-21 fiscal year, and 1.35% in the first half of the same, Planning Minister Hala Al Saeed said.

Saeed says Egypt’s economy was expected to grow 2.8% in the third quarter, and 5.3% in the fourth quarter.

Egypt’s economy grew by 5.6% in the first half of fiscal year 2019-2020, Saeed said. Egypt’s fiscal year begins in July.

The World Bank (WB) has approved a $440 million loan to modernise the signalling and upgrade track on 763 km of Egypt’s 5,000 km rail network, the bank said in a statement.

Egyptian National Railways (ENR) will put $241 million into the project on the Cairo-Giza-Beni Suef section of the network, bringing the total cost to $681 million, the World Bank said.

Obstacles faced by ENR showed there was “margin for improving its performance, namely in the realms of operations, cost recovery, maintenance, and customer service”, it said.

Egypt has focused heavily on investment in transport and urban development infrastructure, seeking development finance to help fund the projects.