Egypt is targeting 5 to 6 percent average growth in gross domestic product in the next fiscal year 2015/2016, up from an expected 4 percent for the current year, the planning minister said.
Egypt's economy has made some steps towards recovery since it was brought to its knees by the Arab Spring uprising four years ago, when violence discouraged investors and tourists and brought growth to below 2 percent in 2010/11.
The government, which took power last year, has embarked on a series of reforms, including the reduction of state subsidies, new taxes and amending an investment law to be more amenable to foreign investors.
Despite an ongoing Islamist insurgency based in the Sinai, increased security and stability has seen foreign investment trickle in. Egypt signed deals worth $36 billion at an international summit in March.
Ashraf al-Arabi told reporters at a news conference that average economic growth for the current fiscal year, which ends in June, will be 4 percent, or slightly above that, up from 2.2 percent last year.
In the first half of the current fiscal year, Egypt's average economic growth stood at 5.6 percent, compared to an expected 3 percent for the second half.
Arabi said the policy of subsidy cuts would continue but did not give a breakdown of the intended cuts.
Egypt will begin rolling out a smart card system for subsidized fuel from June 15 as part of plans to reduce costly energy subsidies over time.
A similar system for subsidized bread has been seen as successful in reducing consumption and easing the strain of subsidies on the government's budget and foreign reserves.
Fuel subsidies have long weighed on Egypt's state budget and contributed to the economic stagnation that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promised to tackle when he took office last June.
Arabi said the government would not raise fuel prices immediately once the smart card system comes into force.
The government reduced fuel subsidies last summer, raising prices by up to 78 percent, in a move lauded by economists but criticized by some Egyptians accustomed to cheap energy.
($1 = 7.6300 Egyptian pounds)
Reuters
14 May
