Egypt to push ahead with economic reforms, finance minister vows

Egypt’s Finance Ministry is awaiting IMF Executive Board approval of the third review of the country’s economic reform program, scheduled for Monday.

The IMF is expected to disburse $820 million to Egypt after concluding its review, and the government aims to ensure the continued success of future reviews.

Egyptian Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said the government was strategically managing complex geopolitical factors to improve economic performance.

“We are looking forward to the IMF’s approval of this third review of the economic reform program, aiming for the continued success of forthcoming reviews and pursuing funding through the Resilience and Sustainability Fund,” he said in a statement.

Kouchouk’s remarks follow his talks with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the G20 meetings in Brazil.

The minister reiterated the government’s commitment to achieving fiscal discipline by reducing debt relative to gross domestic product.

“Furthermore, the government aims to create sufficient fiscal space to increase spending on education, health, and social protection, and to reduce inflation rates to stabilize prices, thereby improving living conditions for citizens and supporting the competitiveness of companies.”

Kouchouk highlighted the government’s priority to increase private sector investment, and boost productive and export activities.

He said Egypt was working to simplify procedures within the tax and customs systems in order to rebuild trust between the business community and the tax administration, as well as enhance service quality for taxpayers.

Egypt was also keen to advance structural reforms and private investment in renewable energy, technology, water desalination, and infrastructure, Kouchouk said.

“The government is ensuring economic policy consistency by setting limits on total public investment, government guarantees, and the ratio of public debt to GDP.”

Georgieva reaffirmed the IMF’s commitment to continue close cooperation with Egypt.

The IMF managing director posted on social media: “We look forward to the board review this Monday.”

Egyptian economic expert Medhat Nafee told Arab News: “This review was originally scheduled earlier, but the board indicated the need to postpone it slightly to Monday, July 29.

“The reasons for the delay were not clear, although I suspect it was linked to Egypt’s prior commitments, particularly concerning the recent hike in fuel prices and important measures requested by the fund.”

Nafee said that the disbursement of the new tranche of the IMF loan might be delayed, “necessitating further discussions and careful assessment of the situation.”

The IMF had already recouped around $3.3 billion in debt and associated interest, while the remaining amount to be disbursed to Egypt stood at at only about $820 million, he said.