Egypt managed to overcome fallout of current global economic crisis: Min.

CAIRO – 8 April 2022: Egypt's Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said Egypt has managed to overcome the fallout of the current international economic crisis linked to the war in Ukraine.

He made the remarks on Thursday during a meeting with the Egyptian Businessmen Association (EBA) and the Egyptian Lebanese Businessmen Friendship Association (ELBA).

The Egyptian government has launched a financial package worth LE 135 billion as per presidential directives to mitigate the impact of the global impact of the Ukraine crisis on people and economic sectors, Maait said.

The minister underlined his confidence in the strength of the Egyptian economy and its flexibility in dealing with consecutive international challenges since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said the Egyptian economy is growing in view of the national projects being accomplished, noting that $400 billion were spent over the past seven years for developing the infrastructure.

He said Egypt seeks to boost its exports to $100 billion, referring to the progress realized in upgrading the tax mechanism.

He added that a new stage of fully mechanized tax mechanism will be launched as of July to help merging informal economy into the formal one.

Last month, Egypt has submitted a request to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to start negotiations about a new program that seeks to support Egyptian state’s plans of national comprehensive economic reform, the Egyptian Cabinet said.

In a statement, the Cabinet said the program, which comes in light of the Russia-Ukraine crisis’s impact on global economy, may include additional funding for Egypt.

“The global economy, especially emerging economies, is currently exposed to simultaneous external shocks, represented by an unprecedented rise in the prices of goods and services and the high cost of financing in light of the fact that many global central banks have increased their interest rates to curb rising inflation,” Cabinet Spokesman Nader Saad said.

This is in addition to the significant negative economic repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, which contributed to the presence of further rises in the prices of energy, food commodities and minerals, as well as the increasing state of uncertainty and panic among investors, which led to the decline or end of their investments from many emerging countries, Saad added.

“The Egyptian state’s priorities during the current period is represented in the rapid adoption of various policies and measures that guarantee the stability of the economic and financial conditions of the country,” Saad said.

The state’s priorities also include working on ensuring the availability of basic commodities for citizens in addition to announcing as well as implementing an integrated financial package of measures and procedures aimed at providing adequate support to the economic sectors and the groups most affected by simultaneous external shocks, Saad noted.

All authorities within the country will work to ensure the availability of production requirements and to continue providing aspects of support to the industrial, agricultural and export activities sectors, the spokesman affirmed.

Also, the Egyptian government aims to continue efforts to implement the necessary economic and structural reforms to ensure the preservation of the path of strong, balanced and sustainable economic growth, Saad said.

He added that this should be carried out in a manner that guarantees the achievement of comprehensive development in Egypt while seeking to increase the role of the private sector in all economic activities.

“To achieve this, the Egyptian state and its institutions continue to cooperate with all international partners and institutions to ensure consistency of policies and reforms followed with best international practices and experiences,” Saad said.

“Among those bodies is the International Monetary Fund, with which the Egyptian authorities have been in regular contact since the end of the previous program with it successfully with the aim of reaching a new agreement on a program of support and technical advice for the economic and financial policies pursued,” he added.

MENA contributed to the reporting.