Egypt’s housing market continues to struggle, with the nationwide real estate index falling by a huge 22.31% during the year to Q3 2020, worse than the 9.58% y-o-y decline seen in the same period last year. Economic growth forecast for Egypt to 3.5%, up from its initial projection of a 2% expansion. After expanding by an average of 4.6% annually in the past four years, Egypt’s economy grew by 5.6% in 2019, as economic reforms are now starting to boost business investment and private consumption.
Both S&P and Moody’s affirmed Egypt’s sovereign credit rating with stable outlook, reflecting their confidence in the country’s ability to positively deal with the coronavirus outbreak. The dark side of these achievements are massive human rights abuses. Egypt’s large military will likely stem unrest in the short term.