CAIRO, July 26, 2019 (BSS/Xinhua) – The Central Bank of Egypt managed to contain
high inflation rates after the country devaluated its local currency amid an
economic reform program in late 2016, an official from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Thursday.
“Inflation in Egypt exceeded 30 percent and now declined to less than 10
percent, and it is expected to go on declining by the end of this year,”
Jihad Azour, IMF director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department,
said in his remarks, according to Egypt’s official MENA news agency.
He noted that the IMF board approved in a vote on Wednesday to disburse 2
billion U.S. dollars as the final tranche of a 12-billion-dollar loan to
support Egypt’s economic reform plan.
“Egypt’s economic reform program has showed successful accomplishments
since 2016 through which it managed to improve economic indicators and
achieve economic and financial transformation and stability,” said the IMF
official.
Egypt started its IMF-sponsored three-year austerity-based economic reform
program in November 2016, including local currency devaluation, fuel and
energy subsidy cuts, and introduction of a value-added tax.
Azour said that the IMF continues providing Egypt with technical support
and is ready to study any future financial cooperation if requested by the
Egyptian government.