BEIRUT - Egypt targets economic growth of 8 percent in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Thursday.

"The government aims to increase economic growth rates gradually from 5.5 percent this year to 8 percent by the year 2021-2022," he told an economic conference in Beirut.

Egypt's economy grew 5.3 percent in the 2017-18 fiscal year, the highest rate in 10 years. Its financial year runs from July to June.

(Reporting by Ellen Francis/Tom Perry in Beirut and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo Editing by Gareth Jones) ((Ellen.Francis@thomsonreuters.com))