The Egyptian economy recorded a growth rate of 3.5% during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024/2025, up from 2.7% in the corresponding period of 2023.
While private investments grew by 30%, reaching EGP 133.1 billion, compared to EGP 102.3 billion in the same quarter of the previous year, public investments declined sharply by 60.5%, amounting to EGP 57 billion, down from EGP 144.4 billion.
These figures were revealed during a meeting headed by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, in which the vision for doubling foreign direct investment in line with “Egypt Vision 2030” was discussed.
Measures to create a more competitive investment climate, including reducing procedural and financial burdens on investors, were reviewed. During the meeting, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, and International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat further outlined the contributions of key sectors to GDP growth.
Sector-wise, communications and IT grew by 12.2%, followed by transportation and storage (15.6%), and tourism (8.2%). Talking about other parameters, the industrial production index (excluding petroleum refining) showed 6% growth, reversing a 7.7% contraction in the same period in 2023.
Al-Mashat said this growth is due to the reform policies adopted by the Madbouly government to restore macroeconomic stability and enhance governance of public investments, as well as to the noticeable improvement in some key economic activities, especially the manufacturing industry, despite the continued decline in Suez Canal activity against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Suez Canal has been witnessing a bloodbath, with its revenues nosediving by more than 60 % in 2024 compared to 2023, amounting to a staggering USD 7 billion loss. The canal, which facilitates 12% of global trade and is a lifeline for Egypt’s battered economy, has been heavily impacted by Israel’s war on Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen.
Amid the ongoing Gaza conflict, along with the emergence of instability in Syria, Yemen’s Houthi movement has threatened ships carrying goods to Israel, effectively disabling trade passing into the Red Sea through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Since November 2023, the Houthi rebels have launched nearly 100 attacks on ships in the Red Sea, actions they say are in solidarity with Palestinians suffering under Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed more than 45,400 people and wounded at least 107,940 Palestinians.