It's never over: Egyptian government preparing new stimulus package

Egypt’s government is currently working on the launch of a new economic stimulus package to boost the sectors that are necessary to economic development such as the industrial, housing and construction, communication and tourism sectors, the Ministry of Finance’s July bulletin stated.

The new package aims to revitalise and expand the activities of the private sector through removing the “bottlenecks” facing economic key sectors, the report said.

After the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, the interim government announced two economic stimulus packages. The first package, with a value of EGP 29.6bn, was announced in August 2013 and focuses on infrastructure-related projects.

In December, the government had announced a second stimulus package, with a value of EGP 30bn, of which EGP 20bn will be directed to development projects, funded by the United Arab Emirates. The remaining EGP 10bn, provided by the government, will finance the minimum income system and social security programmes.

The report noted that the second half of FY 2014/2015 is expected to witness a “development surge” as a result for implementing the projects of the two stimuli packages announced in 2013.

Ministry of Finance added that Balance of Payments (BOP) has registered an overall surplus of $2.2bn during the first nine months of FY 2013/2014, compared to a $2.1bn deficit in the same period in the previous fiscal year, the Ministry of Finance’s July bulletin showed.