São Paulo – International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde said this Sunday (23) that Egypt’s economy is “showing strong signs of recovery”. “Economic growth [in the country] is one of the highest in the Middle East,” a statement quoted her as saying after a meeting in New York with Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
A USD 12 billion Egypt-IMF loan agreement is in place since late 2016 to support economic reforms in the Arab country. The IMF expects Egypt’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to widen by 5.2% in the 2017-2018 fiscal year. In 2018-2019, the country is seen growing by 5.5%.
The IMF said Lagarde and Sisi discussed the Egyptian government’s reforms program.
“We agreed on the importance of capitalizing on Egypt’s macroeconomic gains to advance the authorities’ home-grown structural reforms,” said Lagarde. “These reforms will help achieve more sustainable, inclusive and private-sector led growth which will help create jobs for Egypt’s young population, while also ensuring adequate resources are available for social protection,” she went on.
In its latest loan review, the IMF said reforms were helping fuel growth, curb inflation and unemployment and reduce fiscal and external deficits. So far, USD 8.06 billion have been made available to Egypt’ government.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
