Egypt's Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation, Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, confirmed that the second quarter of the fiscal year 2023-2024 witnessed an escalation of geopolitical tensions in the region, and the war in Gaza directly affected the activities of the Suez Canal, which was reflected in the canal's revenues and net exports, which appeared in the balance of payments issued this week by the Central Bank of Egypt.
She explained that the last fiscal year witnessed growth being affected by the dues of foreign companies in the petroleum sector, which was reflected in the slowdown in extraction activity and net exports of gas and petroleum derivatives during the fiscal year in general, but a shift occurred in the last quarter of the fiscal year in the manufacturing sector, which was directly affected by the tensions in the currency exchange market at the beginning of the last fiscal year.
The Egyptian economy's GDP recorded a growth rate of 2.4% during the last quarter of fiscal year 23/2024, bringing the annual growth rate to 2.4% compared to a growth rate of 3.8% in the previous fiscal year 22/2023, affected by successive external shocks and geopolitical tensions, in addition to the contractionary policies adopted by the government to restore macroeconomic stability, most notably the governance of public investments.
