ICT’s contribution to Egypt’s GDP expected to double

Egypt targets doubling the information and communications technology (ICT) sector contribution to the GDP to 5 percent in the current FY2021/2022, compared to 2.6 percent in FY2020/2021, Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said.

The minister also declared that it is planned to uplift the sector’s export capacity to reach $6 billion in FY2021/22, up from $3.5 billion in FY2020/21 as well as increasing the share of ICT exports to 5 percent of the total Egypt’s exports in FY2021/22 compared to 2.5 percent in FY2020/21.

She noted that COVID-19 has proved the importance of the ICT sector, which witnessed an unprecedented boom on demand amid the lockdown measures that had been taken in the first wave of the pandemic and during the following waves, adding that FY2021/22 plan expects the sector’s growth to exceed 16 percent in FY2021/22.

The sector’s output is also projected to grow by 20.4 percent (in current prices) in FY2021/22, while its throughput is expected to inch up by 20.5 percent, according to the minister.