By: Ahmed Allam

Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt needs to grow by 7% to 8% in order to bolster the local economy and support Egyptian citizens, finance minister Mohamed Maait said on Thursday.

Speaking on the sidelines of a tour at the Large Taxpayer Center (LTC), Maait revealed that the government was targeting EGP 989 billion in revenues and 5.8% growth in its new fiscal year 2018/2019.

Egypt is expected to record growth of around 5.2% in 2017/2018.

Debt interest and premiums are estimated at EGP 817 billion, the minister said, indicating that this figure was divided into EGP 541 billion for interest on debt and EGP 276 billion for debt premiums.

Public revenues cover between 40% and 50% of expenses, the minister noted.

He forecast a surplus of around EGP 3 billion in the budget for fiscal year 2017/2018.

Egyptian President AbdelFattah El Sisi previously said that Egypt was targeting continued economic growth reaching 7% or more in the coming few years. This, he said, would put Egypt on the map of accelerated economic growth.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) previously forecast that the Egyptian economy could rank 15th among the world's top 20 economies by 2050 on the back of the ongoing economic reforms.

Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi