Egypt's unemployment rate fell to 12.8 percent in the three months ending September 30th from 13.1 percent in the same period a year earlier, official statistics agency CAPMAS said on Sunday.

The unemployment rate in the third quarter is slightly higher than the 12.7 percent registered in the prior quarter spanning from March to June.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi pledged to reduce unemployment during his tenure, a target his government hopes to achieve by attracting private sector investments and foreign investments to boost the economy.

Some 218,000 individuals joined Egypt's labour force in the third quarter of this year since the prior quarter to record 28 million.

Youth unemployment inched up to 27.4 percent in the third quarter compared to 26 percent in the previous quarter.