Economic reforms prepared Egypt for coronavirus crisis, minister says

WASHINGTON - 7 May 2020: Structural reforms in Egypt readied its economy for the impact of the ongoing global pandemic, Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Rania al Mashat said.

“We entered this crisis with fiscal buffers as well as foreign reserve buffers, which helped weather the first shock,” Rania al Mashat told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble this week.

“If it weren’t for those comprehensive reforms on the tax side, on the budget, on foreign exchange and so forth, the situation would have been ... even more difficult,” she added.

The minister said Cairo will continue to make changes amid the virus outbreak.

“We’re really pushing forward with many of the structural reforms that we wanted to do anyway. But it’s coming in a very expedited fashion related to social safety nets, widening those to people who are vulnerable. Also, to financial inclusion, there has been a focus on the unorganized and informal labor,” she said.

Egypt was on a reform program with the International Monetary Fund from 2016 to 2019.

CNBC said Egypt is one of only two countries in the Middle East and North African region that the IMF expects the economy to grow in 2020, though at a modest rate of 2 percent, compared to last year’s 5.6 percent.