Egypt’s car sector to see reverse trend down the road: Fitch

Egypt’s car sector to see reverse trend down the road: Fitch

Egypt's car sales will face a reverse trend in 2020, in line with the deteriorating morale of both consumers and companies, according to a report by the global credit rating agency, Fitch Solutions.

The report noted that the negative trend coincides with the low local and global economic expectations due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As with the majority of countries worldwide, Egypt has been forced to undergo an unprecedented series of closures to mitigate the virus' severity.

Despite Fitch has expected that car sales would shrink by 8.2% to 165,132 units over 2020, after it had previously predicted an increase in sales of 9.7%.

The report summarises that Egypt's auto sector will, in general, face significant pressure in 2020 due to the virus' negative local and international impact. This in turn will see passenger car sales standing at 115,7900 units, while bus sales will witness a greater impact seeing a 20% decline in sales, to settle at 9,518 units. This figure cancels the previous estimates that indicated a 2.1% growth in sales. This decline comes on the back of the severe decrease in the number of tourists during the flight suspensions.

But the expectations also indicated a medium-term increase in demand for