The Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El Molla said that the ministry’s economic reforms have successfully contributed to increasing Egypt’s foreign exchange reserves to $44 billion, Egypt Oil & Gas reports

The minister’s remarks came during his visit to Paris to attend an international conference organized by the Observatoire Méditerranéen de l’Energie (OME) to discuss the role of natural gas in the Mediterranean Region.

The reforms also supported the improving economic growth rate from 2% to 5.5% and raised foreign exchange inflows to about $163.6 billion since 2015, the minister noted, pointing out that the energy sector is one of the most important pillars in the Egyptian economy.

Ministry officials explained that the Egyptian oil and gas industry has many investment opportunities to promote economic growth in Egypt.

This comes as Egypt has begun adopting an integrated economic strategy to implement its Vision 2030 goals along with several economic reform programs.