Egypt is likely to succeed in its very ambitious plan to increase its exports to $100bn annually within the next three years, according to economic analysts.
As the government has been intensifying efforts to lure foreign investments and solve problems that hinder the progress of the industrial sector.
“Egypt hopes to increase its annual exports to around $100bn within the next three years via maximizing the industrial sector capabilities,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said recently.
On Monday, Egyptian Trade and Industry Minister Nevine Gamea held a meeting with the chairmen and representatives of the exportation councils to “draw a comprehensive plan for increasing the export rates in different international markets, while giving more focus to Africa.”
“The Egyptian economy has a large base of potentials that could push for accelerating growth in the exportation sectors,” said Waleed Gaballah, professor of financial and economic jurisdictions at Cairo University.
He explained that the government has taken very important steps to increase the government budget, raise investment spending, create an industrial environment through the development of ports, roads and industrial infrastructure, and issue incentive investment laws.
“Though it is a big dream to reach $100bn of exports, Egypt has carried out recently some mega projects that seemed very difficult at the beginning to be fulfilled like the new branch of the Suez Canal and the establishment of the New Capital,” Gaballah told the Chinese Xinhua.
Gaballah, also a member of the Egyptian Association for Political Economy, described it was “a very good step” when the non-oil exports have seen a remarkable rise of $25.5bn in 2019, from $20 in the aftermath of the political turmoil in 2011 and 2013.
The $100bn export-plan could be fulfilled in two stages, according to the economic expert. The first will focus on the oil and mineral exports, which is the responsibility of the government that paid much attention to the expansion of the gas and oil sectors in the past few years by issuing the new mineral resources law, an important step to double the oil investments and its exports.
On the other hand, Reaching $100bn exports is a national project with strategic objectives that are associated with short- and long-term plans, according to Khaled Abu Al-Makarem, chairperson of the Chemical and Fertilizers Export Council,
He added that such ambitious plan project faces challenges of providing liquidity and raw materials for the manufacturers.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Muneer, a member of the Egyptian Businessmen Association, said Egypt is rich with raw materials in all sectors, but the factories that extract and produce these materials need encouraging plans from the government.
