Moody's expects growth in Egypt to accelerate to around 5% by 2019

Moody’s expects Egypt’s GDP growth to accelerate to around 5 percent by 2019 and 5.5 percent by 2021, up from 4.2 percent in 2017, the credit rating agency said on Tuesday.
The forecast for GDP growth in Egypt comes “as structural reforms support more broad-based activity compared to the mostly consumption-driven pre-reform growth model,” Moody’s said.

Egypt had revised its GDP growth forecast to 5.3-5.5 percent for fiscal year 2017/18, from a previous 4.8 percent, the Planning Ministry announced last week.

Moody's forecast was part of the agency’s announcement of a stable outlook for the Levant and North Africa in 2018 on the back of improving growth that “offsets persistent fiscal and political risks.”

“High debt levels, low debt affordability, large funding needs and relatively high debt roll-over rates increase Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan's exposure to a sharper-than-expected rise in interest rates,” the agency added.