Egypt has managed to achieve a real economic growth rate of 5.4% during the first half of the current FY, while targeting reaching 5.6% during the second half of the same year and 5.8% by the end of it, Invest-Gate reports.

Planning Minister Hala El-Saeed stated that while the global economic growth rate stood at 3.5% during Q2 of FY 2018/19, the country’s real economic growth rate managed to mark 5.5% during the same period, an increase of 0.2% over the year-ago period, she said during a cabinet meeting on January 30.

El-Saeed revealed that all productive sectors achieved a positive growth during the second quarter of the current year, noting that the top five sectors in terms of growth rates include the telecommunication sector with a growth rate of 16.4%, hospitality sector with 13.8%, extractives sector with 13.2%, and construction sector with 8.9%, while the Suez Canal attained a growth rate of 8.6%.

As for the annual inflation indicators, the minister said that the average inflation rate fell to 14.4% in the first half of FY 2018/19, compared with about 30.2% during the corresponding period last year.

In December 2018, the inflation rate dwindled to 10.7%, down from 25.3% in December 2017, backed by a decline in prices of basic food commodities.