Egypt needs at least $28 billion in private sector investments: Minister

Egypt will need private sector investments of at least LE200 billion ($28.57 billion) if it is to achieve its growth target of 3.5 percent by the end of the current fiscal year, investment minister Ashraf Salman said on Monday.

Political turmoil had caused growth to slow to 2.3 percent of GDP in the first nine months of the past fiscal year, as the country grappled with the aftermath of a popular uprising which led to the removal of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by the military.

GDP is now estimated to have reached 3.5 percent in the last quarter, ending in June 2014.

Speaking at the Al Mal GTM conference on managing Egypt's balance of trade, Salman said that public investments could only make up LE58 billion ($8.3 billion) out of the LE260-LE336 billion ($37.1 - $48 billion) in investments required to achieve this year's target growth rate, meaning a greater role for the private sector.