Finance Ministry aiming for 5% growth next year
El Garhy targets 5% growth next fiscal year as budget is reportedly finalized: The government has set a 5% target for GDP growth and wants to reduce public debt to 94% of the GDP during FY2017-18, Al Mal reports. Finance Minister El Garhy is also hopeful that unemployment rates will be reduced to 11%, down from its current rate of 12.6%, and said that the Finance Ministry is vying to improve living conditions by boosting spending on health, education, and the Takaful and Karama projects, among other things. The budget preview, outlined yesterday, paints the contours of the government’s plan to push ahead with reform, continue building up the manufacturing industry, and attract investments to reach the financial targets. The ministry also touched on medium-term goals, including bringing down public debt to somewhere between 80 and 85% of GDP. The ministry is playing up the social protection angle of the budget in a front-page (digital edition) piece in state-owned daily Al Ahram.