CAIRO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said on Saturday that the country's economic growth rate rose from two percent to 5.4 percent over the past five years, with plans to reach seven percent in a few years to come.
Sisi's remarks came in a televised statement marking the fifth anniversary of "June 30 Revolution," a popular uprising in mid-2013 that prompted the army, led by Sisi then, to overthrow and detain former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi after one year of his rule.
The Egyptian president described the uprising as "an eternal day in Egypt's history," stressing that it changed the nation's direction from evil and terrorism to security, peace and development.
"Egypt's foreign currency reserves rose from about 15 billion U.S. dollars in 2013 to 44 billion dollars at present, the highest ever in Egypt's history," Sisi said.
Sisi came to office in mid-2014, a year after Morsi's ouster, and he was re-elected in April with a landslide victory for a second four-year presidential term.
Following Morsi's removal, Egypt has faced tough economic conditions due to political instability and relevant security challenges.
The country's foreign debt rose from about 45 billion dollars in 2013 to 82.9 billion dollars by the end of 2017, according to the Central Bank of Egypt.
To boost economy, the Egyptian government started in late 2016 a strict three-year economic reform based on austerity measures, fuel and energy subsidy cuts and tax hikes.
Including full local currency liberalization, Egypt's reform program has been encouraged by a 12-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, two thirds of which has already been delivered to the most populous Arab country.
"The path of real reform is difficult and tough and it causes a lot of suffering, but the suffering of non-reform is undoubtedly greater and worse," Sisi emphasized.
