Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

IMF: Egypt Reform Program "Continuity" Creates Jobs, Recovery


Wed 20 Oct 2021 | 03:23 AM
Taarek Refaat

Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Egypt's continuation of its reform program will allow it to create job opportunities and achieve economic recovery.

Azour explained, during a virtual conference within the fall meetings of the IMF on Tuesday, said that Egypt needs about 700,000 to 800,000 jobs annually, which the private sector can provide in the event of increasing productivity and providing access to new markets as well as providing different types of financing.

He added that Egypt managed to achieve positive growth during the past year, despite the outbreak of the corona crises, to become among the few countries that achieved positive growth, as it was able to maintain a strong level of reserves and high liquidity in the banking system.

He valued the preventive measures adopted by the Egyptian government to protect the people most affected by the repercussions of the pandemic, through the “Solidarity and Dignity” program, and referred to the government’s steps to support medium, small and micro companies, calling for increasing these steps to enhance recovery from the repercussions of the pandemic to contribute to promoting economic recovery.

He explained that Egypt obtained a loan of $5.4 billion as part of a 12-month credit standby agreement to support the Egyptian government's economic reform program during the "Covid-19" pandemic period.

He noted that the program aimed to help Egypt adapt to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting the balance of payments and the general budget.

After the Executive Council approved the general distribution of special drawing rights (SDRs) allocations of $190 billion, Azour said that Egypt would get $2.8 billion, thus becoming the third largest country in the Middle East in terms of the value of the amount that it would receive from the allocations for withdrawals, as Saudi Arabia would get The largest share of distributions in the region is $13.58 billion, followed by the UAE with $3.14 billion.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report issued last Tuesday, the Fund expected the growth of the Egyptian GDP in 2021 at 3.3%, while the GDP growth rates in Egypt will increase during 2022 to reach 5.2%, and then 5.8% in 2026.

Last June, the World Bank commended the Egyptian reform program, as well as the Egyptian government's adoption of more reform steps during 2021 in order to address the repercussions of the pandemic.

He stressed that the fund is in constant contact with the Egyptian government, through cooperation in several aspects, including financial and technical cooperation and the exchange of experiences.