Nuts are sold at a market, ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt, May 6, 2018. (Reuters)

Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat

The Ministry of Planning Monitoring and Administrative Reform (MPMAR) in Egypt announced that the GDP growth for the third quarter of the 2017/18 fiscal year rose to 5.4 percent from 5.3 percent in the first nine months of that year.

Planning Minister Hala al-Saeed said in the statement that the achieved results during the third quarter of 2017-2018 are the best since seven years.

"The Egyptian economy is currently reaping the fruits of the bold economic reform program implemented by the government," Saeed said, adding that this is the "best growth rate in seven years."

Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced this week a notable relapse in unemployment rate which reflects the economic momentum in the country in which unemployment dropped to 10.6 percent during the first three months in 2018 from 12 percent in the same period of 2017, knowing that the rate was 11.3 percent in the final quarter of 2017.

Regarding the sectors most contributing to operating levels, Saeed said that five sectors managed to achieve 68 percent of the total operating rate, on top of them the agriculture sector (20.5 percent), wholesale and retail sector (14.1 percent), transformational sector (12.9 percent) construction sector (12.6 percent) and transportation sector (7.5 percent).

She ensured that the global and local economic condition will continue to improve, knowing that its enhancement has reflected on a growth in the Egyptian exports. Non-oil exports reached 12 percent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year and 14.5 percent during the third quarter.

In a related matter, Amr El Garhy, the minister of finance, said that he presented on Thursday infront of the cabinet the results of Standard & Poor's that raised Egypt’s rating from B- to B. Garhy added that the progress in rating on the medium-term and long-term grants greater confidence to the Egyptian economy and reflects the confidence in positive and structural economic reforms. The progress reinforces opportunities of increasing economic growth to reach 3.5 percent.