CAIRO — President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been ruling Egypt for more than a year now, during which the country's economy has reached a state of stability. During this period, the Egyptian government made decisions aimed at promoting economic reform and started lifting subsidies on petroleum products on July 4, 2014. Despite the relative improvement, there are still chronic problems afflicting the Egyptian economy, including the budget deficit.

Moody's raised its rating of Egypt's economic outlook from “negative” to “stable” in October 2014. In May 2015, Standard & Poor's upgraded its outlook for the country from “stable” to “positive.”

During the first nine months of the 2014-15 fiscal year, Egypt's economy achieved a growth rate of 4.7%, compared with 1.6% during the same period the preceding year, according to reports from the Ministry of Planning. The increase was made possible thanks to political stability, economic reform measures and a renewal of investor confidence, the ministry said.

When the government began lifting subsidies on energy products in early July 2014, it raised the price of gasoline.