Egypt’s reform achieved fiscal, monetary stability: IMF

CAIRO – 2 November 2017: Egypt’s economic reform program achieved fiscal and monetary stability, increased investment flows and improved the economic situation, IMF Mission Chief for Egypt, Middle East, Central Asia Subir Lall said Thursday.

In a meeting with Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil, Lall has praised the efforts of the ministry in developing the manufacturing and trade sectors, in addition to launching the industrial investment map earlier this week, according to a statement from the ministry.

The economic reform measures reflected on all economic sectors and they resulted in increasing growth rates, industrial production, exports, power generation and foreign reserves as well as reducing imports, employment rates and the budget deficit, Kabil said in the meeting.

The ministry has launched in 2016 a strategy for industrial development that aims to introduce new methods and plans to upgrade trade and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to boost industrial growth rate to eight percent and increase the industrial sector’s contribution in the gross domestic production (GDP) from 17.7 percent to 21 percent.

The strategy would also work to increase the contribution of SMEs in the GDP to 10 percent, reduce deficit in the trade balance 50 percent and provide three million job opportunities, Kabil noted.

Reviewing the latest development in different sectors, Kabil said that his ministry launched 16 million square meters of lands to investors from January 2016 to June 2017, compared to 9.5 million square meters from 2008 to 2015.