Egypt's interim government recognises Morsi's economic achievements

The military backed-interim government has recognized Egypt’s economic achievements during the rule of President Mohammed Morsi. The recognition follows a period of public attacks against Morsi’s government, including accusations of mishandling the Egyptian economy. However the interim government has now recognised that Morsi’s economic decisions lowered the trade deficit and increased foreign exports. The monthly report issued by the Ministry of Finance confirms that during the rule of President Morsi and his government led by Hesham Qandil, Egypt’s economy had grown.

The report revealed that Egypt’s GDP recorded a growth of 2.3 per cent during the first nine months of fiscal year 2012 – 2013, compared to only 1.8 per cent during the same period of the previous fiscal year. The report added that the overall budget deficit during fiscal year 2013- 2014 was 9.1 per cent or 186 billion Egyptian pounds.

The report noted that the annual growth rate of domestic liquidity continued to rise until the end of May 2013, to achieve 18.8 per cent compared to an average annual growth of 18.3 per cent at the end of April 2013. The growth was driven by the increase in net domestic assets, especially the government net liabilities, consumer goods and credit granted to the private sector.

The report attributes the growth during fiscal year 2012-2013 to: increases in wages due to greater salaries for employees worth 7.8 billion pounds to reach 60.5 billion pounds in total wages; increases of 3.4 billion in permanent salaries to reach 23.3 billion pounds, and increases of 5.9 billion pounds in quality allowances to reach 17 billion pounds.

The subsidies, grants and social benefits all rose as a result of 24.5 billion pounds of additional subsidies for petroleum products, reaching 120 billion pounds. The social security and pension contributions to pension funds increased by 10.2 billion pounds.

The Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics revealed that during Morsi’s rule the trade balance deficit decreased during the month of May last year to reach 16.21 billion pounds compared to 23.05 billion pounds for the same month in 2012, a decline of 29.7 per cent.

Egyptian exports increased by 3.1 per cent to reach 16.83 billion pounds during the month of May 2013 compared to 16.33 billion pounds for the same month of the previous year. The increase was due to the high value of some commodities such as: crude oil, fertilizer, fresh fruit, fresh oranges, pasta and other food products.