IMF delegation in Cairo next week for second review

CAIRO – 19 October 2017: A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Egypt next week, on October 24, to start the second review of Egypt’s reform program, before it disperses the third installment of a $12-billion loan program, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.

Finance Minister Amr el-Garhy and Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer have recently met with IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, where Lagarde has praised the Egyptian government’s persistence in implementing the reform program.

She congratulated Egypt’s government and people for the success they achieved in implementing the ambitious reform program, saying that the government and the CBE have taken the right measures to curb inflation and reduce the budget deficit.

Garhy said in a press conference Thursday that Egypt has succeeded in executing 80 percent of the program’s harsh economic decisions, such as addressing electricity and fuel subsidies, floating the Egyptian pound, implementing a 14 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) and reducing the budget deficit to less than 10 percent of the GDP.

Egypt is expected to receive the third tranche, worth $2 billion, after this upcoming review. The IMF visit will start on October 24 and will last until November 3.

Egypt clinched a $12 billion IMF loan deal last November after the fund agreed on the country’s home-made economic reform program.