Egypt president expects inflation to fall by half in 2018

CAIRO – Egypt’s president says he expects the country’s inflation rate to fall by more than half in 2018, forecasting an improving economy after years of political unrest.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi told a financial conference on Thursday that the economic reform program he launched is starting to “bear fruit.”

He says: “We have set a goal for ourselves to reduce the inflation rate to around 13 per cent in 2018.”

Annual inflation stood at 31.9 per cent in August.

El-Sissi also said the country’s Gross Domestic Product grew 4.9 per cent in the last quarter of 2016-2017, which ended in June. That compared to 4.1 per cent for the same period the year before.

The state budget deficit reached 9.5 per cent, down from 11.5 per cent during the same period.