Egypt eyes growth rate of 7.5 pct in 3 years

Egypt's economy could reach a growth rate of 7.5 per cent during the coming 3 years in addition to creating 750,000 new job opportunities, said Momtaz El-Said the minister of finance on Monday at a conference for funding infrastructure projects, Ahram Arabic-language portal reported Last week the minister of planning and international co-operation stated that Egypt economy grew 2.2 per cent in the 2011/12 financial year that ended 30 June. This represents a slight improvement on the 1.8 per cent growth the economy recorded in 2010/11. El-Said explained that the anticipated growth rate will be achieved through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) as the government eyes pushing up the volume of investments to LE276 billion ($46 billion) by the end of 2012. There are 15 proposed projects under PPP’s system worth $8.3 billion as the first phase will immediately witness the execution of 6 to 8 projects while the rest will be see the light at a later stage. Egypt’s current total investments is worth LE106 billion ($17.6 billion), including governmental investments (LE56 billion) and public and business sector (LE50 billion), according to El-Said. (ahram)