Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El-Molla, announced a plan to increase the mining sector's contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 5% over the coming five years.
The sector's current contribution to the GDP is less than 0.5%, El-Molla added during his speech to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, noting that the sector has the potential to achieve higher performance.
He further revealed that the oil and gas sector contributed about 27% and 24% to the GDP in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The international bid round which has been recently launched for gold and mineral exploration reflects the ministry’s efforts in making the mining sector an attractive sector for investment.
El-Molla added that some of the 11 companies that were awarded gold exploration blocks signed their respective agreements with the ministry in January and the remaining companies are expected to sign their respective contracts in February.
In addition, he said that work is underway to reopen the Damietta liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in the coming period after an eight-year hiatus.
