On Thursday, Egypt’s parliament has approved a $2.7 billion agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF); it was signed on May 11 in emergency financing to help the country grapple with the new coronavirus pandemic.
In a meeting of the Parliamentary economic affairs committee, headed by MP Ahmed Samir, he said that Egypt had carried out a successful economic program before the outbreak of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, achieving a "remarkable turnaround" in its large external and domestic imbalances.
Samir added that the new funds would help Egyptian authorities continue spending on health, social protection, and supporting the most impacted sectors and vulnerable groups, while limiting the decline in international reserves.
Samir said Egyptian authorities were committed to full transparency and accountability on crisis-related spending, and had agreed to publish information on procurement plans and awarded contracts, and carry out audits of such spending.
"As the crisis abated, it would be important for Egypt to resume measures to lower its debt level and continue implementation of structural reforms, he noted.
The outbreak has led to the shutdown of Egypt's tourism sector, a key source of foreign revenue, and threatens income from the Suez Canal and remittances from Egyptian workers based abroad. Egypt's foreign reserves have fallen to $37 billion from more than $45.5 billion at the end of February.
The government has taken steps to contain the outbreak, including introduction of a night curfew and the closure of cafes and mosques, but has stopped short of imposing a full lockdown as it seeks to keep the economy going.
Egypt and coronavirus
Egypt is currently with total infections of 38,284 as the Ministry of Health announced the detection of 1,455 new cases on Wednesday. The total death toll amounted to 1,342, while the number of recoveries registered 10,289.
Earlier, Dr. John Jabbour, the WHO representative, noted that in Egypt, 85% of the positive cases had recovered without treatment because their symptoms were simple.
According to Jabbour, Egypt faces many challenges, topped by coordinating among all the health-related sectors and making the best use of the state’s revenues in the fight against the pandemic, in addition to addressing the social stigma associated with the disease and supporting the medical staff who are standing on the front-lines and risking their own lives to treat infected patients.
The WHO official urged all the people to follow protective measures and stay at home to protect themselves and their loved ones against the disease.
The ministry has stepped up precautionary measures in the affected governorates and intensified campaigns to spread awareness about infectious diseases.
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