IMF official says Egypt economy grew 5.5% in two years

Egypt has made significant progress as the economy grew 5.5 percent in two years, said a senior International Monetary Fund official on Friday.

Jihad Azour, the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia director, has praised Egypt’s economic reforms, saying the country works on reviving its economic growth, lifting employment rates, and supporting youth-led projects.

Azour also said, on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank annual spring meetings in Washington, that an IMF delegation would conduct its final review of Egypt’s three-year $12 billion loan programme in June.

Egypt signed a three-year $12 billion loan programme with the IMF in late 2016 as it sought to attract back international investors who pulled out after an uprising in 2011.

The government imposed tough reforms, including a steep currency devaluation and deep cuts to energy subsidies and introducing a value-added tax, leaving many of Egypt’s nearly 100 million citizens struggling to make ends meet.

Egypt will remove remaining subsidies on most energy products by June 15, it told the IMF in a January letter released by the fund on Saturday as part of a review of the loan programme.