CAIRO: Egypt's Finance Ministry is awaiting IMF Executive Board approval for the third review of the country's economic reform program, scheduled for Monday.
The IMF is expected to disburse $820 million to Egypt following the completion of the review, and the government is committed to ensuring the continued success of future reviews.
Egypt's Finance Minister Ahmed Kuchuk said the government is strategically managing complex geopolitical factors to improve economic performance.
“We look forward to the IMF's approval of this third review of the economic reform agenda, looking forward to the continued success of future reviews and seeking funding through the Resilience and Sustainable Development Fund,” he said in a statement.
Kuchuk's statement came after his talks with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the G20 meetings in Brazil.
The minister reaffirmed the government's commitment to achieving fiscal discipline by reducing debt relative to gross domestic product.
“In addition, the government aims to create sufficient budget space to increase spending on education, health care and social protection, as well as reduce the inflation rate to stabilize prices, thereby improving the living conditions of citizens and maintaining the competitiveness of companies.”
Kuchuk emphasized that the government's priority is to increase investments in the private sector, increase production and export activities.
He said that Egypt is working to simplify procedures in the tax and customs systems in order to restore trust between the business community and the tax administration, as well as to improve the quality of service to taxpayers.
Egypt was also interested in promoting structural reforms and private investment in renewable energy, technology, water desalination and infrastructure, Kuchuk said.
“The government ensures the consistency of economic policy by setting limits on the total volume of public investment, government guarantees and the ratio of public debt to GDP.”
Georgieva confirmed the IMF's commitment to continue close cooperation with Egypt.
The IMF's managing director wrote on social media: “We look forward to the board's review this Monday.”
Egyptian economic expert Medhat Nafi told Arab News: “Initially, this review was planned earlier, but the council indicated the need to postpone it a bit to Monday, July 29.
“The reasons for the delay are not clear, although I suspect it was related to Egypt's previous commitments, particularly in relation to the recent increase in fuel prices and the important measures requested by the fund.”
Nafi said that the payment of the new tranche of the IMF loan may be delayed, “which requires further discussions and a careful assessment of the situation.”
According to him, the IMF has already compensated about $3.3 billion of the debt and related interest, while the remaining amount to be paid to Egypt is only about $820 million.
