President Abdel Fattah El Sisi called for taking all needed measures to reduce Egypt's public debt and increase cash reserves.

During a meeting with Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Tareq Amer on Sunday, Sisi urged paying due regard to low-income brackets and securing additional funds to provide basic commodities for citizens.

The meeting tackled the monetary policy adopted by the Central Bank of Egypt and efforts it exerts to maintain Egypt's monetary stability, presidential spokesman Bassam Reda said.

Amer said the real gross domestic product increased by an average of 4.6% in the second half of 2016/2017, while the unemployment rate decreased to 11.9% in the first quarter of 2017/2018.

Foreign exchange reserves also hit a record of 36.7 billion dollars, he said, adding that all banks were assigned to channel 20% of their credit portfolios into supporting small, medium and micro enterprises till 2020