Ending parallel market has positive impact on Egypt's economy

Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Hisham Ramez said on Sunday Egypt's economic reforms improved investors' confidence especially after the application of subsidy system, the issuance of the new investment law and the launching of several mega national projects.

Addressing the 39th regular session of the Board of Arab Central Banks and Monetary institutions, Ramez said the measures adopted by the government to introduce economic reforms and the CBE efforts to end the black or parallel market have positively improved the competitiveness of the Egyptian economy and helped luring local and foreign investments.

He asserted that CBE is exerting strenuous efforts to increase stability of the Egyptian economy, noting that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) recorded an increase in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2014/2015 to reach up to 3 percent, while economic growth rate reached 4.7 percent during the first nine months of the fiscal year 2014/2015 compared with 1.7 percent in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

Egypt is on its way towards achieving economic recovery, Ramez noted, asserting that Egypt's economy proved to be tough enough in face of serious challenges.

Egypt's Balance of Payments (BOP) is still suffering a recurrent deficit during the period from July to March 2014/2015 amounting to dlrs one billion, while the service and income balance recorded a remarkable increase in the same period as it recorded a surplus of dlrs 4.2 billion as a result of an increase of tourism revenues and capital influx and the rise in net foreign investments, he explained.

A notable improvement was also recorded in some economic sectors, especially construction, he said, adding that it has positively influenced Egypt's labor market as unemployment rate recorded 12.7 percent during the second quarter of 2015 compared with 13.3 percent in the same quarter of the previous year.

Source: MENA