Jihad Azour, IMF Director of the Middle East and Central Asia said “The UAE investment in Egypt is an important event, but it is not linked to the IMF’s discussions with Cairo, and these two topics are completely separate, and we have not yet seen the details of the deal between the UAE and Egypt.”
He continued: The discussions between Egypt and the IMF are related to economic reform in Egypt, strengthening the role of the private sector, activating the role of social protection, and giving confidence to the economy in order to advance it.
He pointed out that the flexibility of the exchange rate is an essential issue to protect the Egyptian economy from external shocks, and during recent years there have been shocks that affected the Egyptian economy and other economies, stressing that this policy is accompanied by financial measures to reduce inflation, which is considered relatively high in Egypt, and it is a global and regional problem.
He confirmed that the link between the size of the Fund’s loan to Egypt and the issue of refugees from the Gaza Strip is incorrect, pointing out that the program was drawn up about a year and two months ago, and the first and second review took place before the Gaza War.
Azour added that there is no doubt that Egypt and others have been economically affected by current events, and the risk rate has increased, and the size of the loan is linked to the financing gap and has nothing to do with political aspects.