CAIRO- Egypt expects its economy to grow by an annual rate of 8% by 2022 as the government improves the investment climate, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Sunday.

"The Egyptian government expects growth to gradually pick up to 8 percent by 2022," he told a meeting of Arab central bank governors.

In July, Madbouly said gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.6% in the 2018/19 fiscal year.

Barring the oil industry, Egypt's economy has struggled to attract foreign investors since the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

Madbouli told the central bank governors that the government wanted to "alter the face of private investment to spur growth."

This includes "continued efforts to improve the business climate, especially by simplifying and lowering the cost of -forming companies and expanding new investment zones," he said.

(Reporting by Patrick Werr Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Toby Chopra) ((Ulf.Laessing@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: follow me on twitter @ulflaessing))