IMF: Egypt Did Not Resort to Fund for New Loan

Jihad Azour, the Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Egypt did not resort to the Fund for a new loan, and that it must protect itself against the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war and address the food security crisis.

Azour added in an exclusive interview with CNBC Arabia that the crisis has economic repercussions on the countries of the region and the world, and is calculated based on raw materials such as flour and wheat.

He pointed out that Egypt's monetary policy should have a high degree of precautionary risk, and that the Fund is in the process of re-evaluating its expectations for countries in the region at the present time, pointing out that the fund presented a rapid program of $1.4 billion to help Ukraine's balance of payments (BOP).

He also expected that Russia's economy would shrink significantly this year, as it constitutes 3% of the world's economy, stressing at the same time that a new round of negotiations with Lebanon regarding the reform program is imminent.