External trade environment to affect Egypt badly: Citi Bank

CAIRO – 9 September 2019: Managing Director and Head of Emerging Markets Economics at Citi Bank David Lupin said Monday that the external trade environment will affect Egypt badly.

Lupin said at Euromoney conference that Egypt's policy makers have a challenge of getting the ratio of real liberalization to financial liberalization right.

He clarified at Euromoney conference that Egypt needs to carry out more hard-to-implement reforms.

“Egypt needs to be careful with trade liberalization,” he said, adding that if Egypt kept relying on imports that are cheaper, the deficit will go up.

The number of tourists that come to visit Egypt needs to go up, because tourism is a labor-intensive sector and it generates positive effect on other industries like food industry and small and medium enterprises, Lupin advised.

He reiterated that Egypt needs to focus on labor-intensive industries like tourism.
The managing director and head of Emerging Markets Economics at Citi Bank praised the foreign direct investment (FDI) in Egypt, and said it “has an overall impressive performance.”

Lupin thought that the external trade environment will affect Egypt badly.