IMF expects Egyptian economy to rebound next year

13 / 04 / 2021

By Marwa Nassar - -

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected Egyptian economy to rebound next year as the rollout of vaccination will help boost tourism which is an important factor in economic growth.

In a press briefing on Sunday, Deputy Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department Taline Koranchelian said “tourism has been recovering. But the receipts are still lower than before, and this will have — it is also an important factor in growth. Now, this said, we see that the economy will rebound next year. And this will be supported by the vaccination rollout, but also with the public investment of the government.”

She noted that “Egypt has done well in terms of containing the economic and the fallout of the COVID-19. And it’s one of the countries, one of the few countries which has not seen a negative contraction in its GDP last year.”

She added that “it’s very important that the immediate priority is to maintain and to support the recovery. And this should be balanced in the context of Egypt, particularly given the high debt — of high public debt. And the authorities are cognizant of this and they are providing support at the — targeted support to the economy.”

She said “the big part of the crisis is over, I think it is very important that the structural reform agenda is accelerated. And there, I think, it is very important to improve governance and the business environment and remove trade barriers and continue to enhance the transparency of state-owned enterprises, but also reduce gradually the state footprint and provide equal opportunities to all agents.”

She expounded that “Egypt has a large youth population and it needs to provide opportunities and to create jobs for its youth and also for its female population.”

She added that “it is very important for Egypt to help the private sector become the lead to growth and job creation.”