The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and the Ministry of Finance announced on Sunday that Egypt and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached an agreement on the economic and structural policies and reforms for Egypt\u2019s new IMF-backed economic reform programme.<\/p>\n
he meetings between the Egyptian authorities and IMF officials and experts were held on the sidelines of the IMF and the World Bank Group\u2019s annual meetings in Washington DC, according to a statement released by the finance ministry.<\/p>\n
Egypt had filed a\u00a0request\u00a0with\u00a0the IMF in March to secure a new loan under a fresh economic reform programme to address\u00a0the harsh impacts of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict on the Egyptian economy.<\/p>\n
The two sides aim to announce a final deal for the new reform programme in Cairo in the near future, the statement added.<\/p>\n
According to the finance ministry statement, the new\u00a0reform programme rests on three cornerstones: Egypt will implement\u00a0financial policies reforms,\u00a0monetary policies reforms and a package of structural reforms for the Egyptian economy.<\/p>\n
Financial policies<\/strong><\/p>\n The government\u00a0targets reaching\u00a0an annual initial surplus and keeping the public debt-to-GDP ratio below 80 percent over the short term.<\/p>\n It also targets\u00a0prolonging government debt maturity and diversifying financing resources.<\/p>\n The government also targets improving the efficiency of both the budgetary revenues and expenditures as well as raising spending on human development.<\/p>\n It aims to continue expanding\u00a0social protection programmes, including raising\u00a0the incomes of \u00a0state employees\u2019 incomes and\u00a0increasing allocations to pensions and insurance that benefit over 10 million households and individuals.<\/p>\n It also targets strengthening\u00a0the Takaful and Karama programme that benefits around five million households and to the Decent Life programme that aims to improve infrastructure and standards of livings in rural areas.<\/p>\n The government will also continue to enhance\u00a0transparency and financial disclosure efforts.<\/p>\n Monetary policies<\/strong><\/p>\n The government targets\u00a0continuing efforts to curb inflation\u00a0and ensure price stability in the local market.<\/p>\n It also targets improving\u00a0the efficiency of Egypt\u2019s current monetary policy tools and shore up the country\u2019s banking sector.<\/p>\n The agreement also aims to improve the efficiency of the exchange rate market.<\/p>\n Structural reforms<\/strong><\/p>\n The government targets implementing measures to raise the competitiveness of the Egyptian economy, improve the business climate, increase productivity and export rates, boost green activities, increase\u00a0the share of private sector and create\u00a0more of job opportunities.<\/p>\n It will\u00a0fast track\u00a0the release of the State Ownership Policy in its final draft in a way that reflects the Egyptian state\u2019s desire to stimulate and attract private sector investments.<\/p>\n The government also aims to boost competitiveness in the Egyptian market and simplify trade and investment in a way that attracts more local and foreign investments.<\/p>\n “Very productive talks”: IMF<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIMF staff and the Egyptian authorities have held very productive in-person discussions on the margins of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings and made substantial progress on all policies including a continued fiscal consolidation path that will safeguard public debt sustainability and ensure a steady decline of the debt-to-GDP ratio over the medium term. Additional fiscal and related structural policies that would further expand the social safety net for the most vulnerable, improve the budget composition, and enhance fiscal transparency,\u201d Gerry Rice, the IMF\u2019s director of communications, said on Saturday<\/p>\n Rice added that monetary and exchange rate policies would anchor inflation expectations, improve monetary policy transmission, improve the functioning of the foreign exchange market, and bolster Egypt\u2019s external resilience.<\/p>\n \u201cThis would enable Egypt to gradually and sustainably rebuild foreign reserves,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cThe implementation of the authorities\u2019 comprehensive structural reform agenda would gradually enhance the competitiveness of the economy, reduce the role of the state in the economy, level the playing field for the private sector, improve the business climate, and foster transition towards a greener economy,\u201d according to Rice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Egypt reaches agreement with IMF on new economic reform programme: Finance ministry The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and the Ministry of Finance announced on Sunday that Egypt and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have reached an agreement on the economic and structural policies and reforms for Egypt\u2019s new IMF-backed economic reform programme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":326373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-326372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-development-partners","category-main"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nDoaa A.Moneim , Sunday 16 Oct 2022<\/p>\n