The report expects Egypt’s economic growth to continue its robust pace despite the COVID-19 crisis.

“The health crisis caused by the pandemic outbreak has not hindered Egypt’s economic growth. Egypt was an exceptional model globally to attain a positive growth in 2020, amid the first wave of the pandemic, at 3.6 percent despite the negative implications of the crisis,” said the report.

The report attributed this performance to the country’s continuous economic reforms that boosted the economy’s flexibility and resilience towards shocks, in addition to the incentives packages that Egypt has adopted with the objective of rejuvenating local demand.

Moreover, Egypt did not impose a full lockdown, which has been boosting Egypt’s real GDP positive growth, according to the report.

The report also noted that the return of direct flights to the country and expansion of vaccination is contributing to the recovery of Egypt’s tourism sector.

Egypt’s ongoing second wave of reforms, which focus on structural reforms, are also expected to drive the country’s economic growth in 2022 and over the medium term, according to the report.

The report classifies Egypt as an oil-importer country.

For the oil-importer countries group, the report projects its real GDP growth to increase to 4.6 percent in 2022, up from 2.5 percent attained in 2021. This increase will be supported mainly by external demand recovery and the rebound of trade activities – particularly trade, tourism and investment – due to increased vaccination.

On the Arab level, the report expected Arab countries’ real GDP growth to jump to 5.2 percent in 2022, up from 2.7 percent recorded in 2021, driven mainly by the projected increase in oil production in the frame of OPEC+ deal.