The Egyptian Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation announced a continued rise in Egypt’s GDP growth rate during the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 fiscal year, reaching about 5%, compared to the 2.4% growth rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year, marking the highest quarterly growth rate achieved in three years.

The ministry stated in a press release today that this performance contributed to raising the annual growth rate for the 2024/2025 fiscal year to about 4.4%, compared to the modest growth rate recorded in 2023/2024 which was about 2.4%, thus surpassing the targeted growth rate for the year estimated at about 4.2%.

It added that this achieved recovery confirms the resilience of the Egyptian economy in facing successive external shocks experienced during the previous period, due to the continuous pursuit of policies supporting macroeconomic stability, governance of public investment spending, and stimulating increased private sector contribution to the economy, driven by the government’s ongoing commitment to the reform agenda set within the framework of the National Structural Reform Program.

According to the statement, growth during the fourth quarter and the 2024/2025 fiscal year was driven by high growth witnessed in several key sectors, most notably tourism, non-oil manufacturing industries, and the telecommunications and information technology sector.

This recovery was also supported by an 18.8% increase in the non-oil manufacturing industry index during the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 fiscal year, compared to a 4.7% growth rate achieved in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, backed by the expansion of several main industries such as vehicles (126%), pharmaceutical and medicinal products (52%), and ready-made garments (41%).

On the expenditure side, the quarter witnessed a notable improvement in the contribution of investment and inventory to output, moving from negative to positive, indicating a gradual restoration of investment momentum.

Data showed a significant shift in the investment structure, with the contribution of public investments declining to 43.3% of total investment and inventory in the 2024/2025 fiscal year after being 51.2% in 2023/2024, while the share of private investments rose to 47.5% of total investment and inventory, the highest level in the past five years.

The statement clarified that amid global uncertainty and geopolitical tensions witnessed in the region, activity in the Suez Canal continued to decline, albeit at a slower pace of 5.48% during the fourth quarter, and 52% during the fiscal year, affected by regional geopolitical tensions which negatively impacted maritime trade and led to a noticeable decrease in the number of transiting ships and their cargoes.

Growth in extraction activities continued to slacken as the oil and natural gas sectors contracted during the fourth quarter and the fiscal year.

The statement pointed out that the rate of contraction began to decline during the fourth quarter as some field development works resumed during the quarter.