New IMF Programme Supports Reforms without Burden on Citizens, Minister Says

Finance Minister Mohamed Maait discussed with Kristalina Georgieva, Director General of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) joint  cooperation during the coming period.

This came on the sidelines of his participation in the World Government Summit 2022 in Dubai.

The ministry said in a statement today, that this is a continuation of the success of the economic reform program, which gave the Egyptian economy sufficient flexibility to absorb internal and external shocks.

The minister expressed his aspiration for the International Monetary Fund to continue supporting the Egyptian economy to cross the severe global economic crisis resulting from unprecedented inflation rates (40-year hight) that are reflected in the prices and availability of basic commodities and the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis that threatens the stability of food supply chains in the world.

The two sides agreed that the new programme, which is being consulted with the International Monetary Fund, will be to support structural reforms that support the Egyptian economy without any burdens on citizens.

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, expressed her aspiration to visit Egypt and meet with President Sisi and the Prime Minister at the earliest possible opportunity during the coming period.

Georgieva stressed that the Fund will continue to support Egypt in completing the success story of the Egyptian economic reform, explaining that the Fund's team is communicating with the Egyptian team to coordinate on the new programme for Egypt, which aims to support structural reforms of the Egyptian economy.

The Director of the IMF praised the Egyptian swift move to deal with the consequences of rising food prices, basic materials, oil, transportation costs and the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, which negatively affected hundreds of millions of people in many countries of the world.

She praised the social protection package recently taken by Egypt to mitigate the repercussions of this crisis and the global inflationary effects on the middle class and the most affected groups, stressing the ability of the Egyptian economy to deal with the repercussions of this global crisis and recover from it.

Maait indicated the government's commitment to continue efforts to achieve financial discipline, sustainability of economic performance indicators, stability and improvement of public finances, maintaining positive growth levels, creating more job opportunities, and controlling inflation.

Maait noted that a new financial package for social protection worth EGP 130 billion has been approved to deal with the repercussions of the current global economic challenges, and mitigate the inflationary effects on citizens.

He stressed that EGP 2.7 billion has been arranged to include 450,000 new families for "solidarity and dignity" beneficiaries, and EGP 190.5 billion has been allocated to the National Social Insurance Authority to disburse the annual increase in the value of pensions by 13% with a minimum of EGP 120 starting April 1, and the tax exemption limit has been increased by 25% from EGP 24,000 to EGP 30,000, and the increase in periodic and special bonuses for state workers and the additional monthly incentive.