Bloomberg Business quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Senior Fellow Amy Hawthorne on Egypt’s economic reforms, as discussed during Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Egypt:
On the economic front, Kerry said the talks covered ways to improve Egypt’s business climate, attract new investment, spur trade, and create jobs.
Egypt’s economy is showing signs of picking up, with Standard & Poor’s (S&P) projecting annual real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of about 4.3 percent on average for 2015-18, up from the 2.1 percent average of 2011-2014.
The pace of economic reforms has has slowed after some initial steps, such as reducing costly fuel subsidies, said Amy Hawthorne, a senior fellow at the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council in Washington. There “seems to be a lack of political will, and pushback from some stakeholders,” Hawthorne said in an interview.