ZCZC
BCN-18
EGYPT-IMF-DEBT
Egypt reaches agreement with IMF on next $2 bn loan payment
WASHINGTON, Nov 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Egypt has reached an agreement with
the International Monetary Fund on release of the next $2 billion loan
installment, the fifth under the country’s three-year aid program, the IMF
announced Wednesday.
The agreement with the IMF staff is subject to approval by the executive
board of the Washington-based crisis lender.
The loan program for Egypt was signed in November 2016, and with this
payment Cairo will have received $10 billion of the total.
“The Egyptian economy has continued to perform well, despite less
favorable global conditions, supported by the authorities’ strong
implementation of the reform program,” IMF mission chief Subir Lall said in a
statement.
In addition, he said the central bank’s “prudent monetary policy helped
bring down annual inflation.”
Egypt has imposed harsh austerity measures to try to right the economy and
reduce the budget deficit. It floated the currency and started to phase out
subsidies on many goods and services, including hiking fuel prices as much as
50 percent, and electricity rates by about 25 percent.
Consumer prices spiked in September but Lall said the central bank was
committed to bringing inflation down to single digits in the medium term.
Lall said the reforms are working, cutting the deficit in half to 2.4
percent of GDP, and boosting growth to 5.3 percent.
At the same time the government has implemented “comprehensive efforts to
improve the living standards of the most vulnerable,” he said.
Since the 2011 revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak, the
economy of the Arab world’s most populous country has received multiple
shocks caused by political instability and security issues.
BSS/AFP/HR/0958