A high-level delegation from Egypt concluded successful spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, D.C. that saw the completion of a $500 million loan agreement with the World Bank to support education in Egypt and a $53.2 million deal with the OPEC Fund of International Development to improve the country’s irrigation and agricultural production. Minister of Investment and International Cooperation (MIIC) Sahar Nasr highlighted these deals and Egypt’s economic growth and reform agenda during media interviews with CNN and Bloomberg.

“We are aiming for quality investment that will create jobs and will create inclusive growth in a sustainable manner,” Minister Nasr said on Bloomberg Markets on Tuesday, 24 April. Referencing the Middle East and North Africa economic outlook that was announced at the spring meetings, she underscored that Egypt is one of the main driving forces of the region’s economic growth.

Additionally, according to Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS), World Bank president Jim Yong Kim “lauded Egypt’s economic reforms and its efforts to lure more direct foreign investments to the country” at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a press conference that the Egyptian economy is “heading in the right direction,” and highlighted “a clear rebound of growth.”

Egypt’s $500 agreement with the World Bank supports a “five-year project that aims to expand access to quality kindergarten for around 500,000 children, train 500,000 teachers and education officials, while providing 1.5 million students and teachers with digital learning resources.” According to OPEC, Egypt’s deal with the Fund of International Development will “help increase incomes and food security for more than 380,000 people.”

At the Spring Meetings, Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Governor Tarek Amer and Minister of Finance Amr El Garhy announced that the Central Bank of Egypt and the Government of Egypt will co-host a conference on inclusive growth and job creation in Egypt, to coincide with the IMF’s third review of Egypt’s economic reform program. Additionally, Minister El Garhy also spoke to Bloomberg following the Spring meetings, saying that investments in Egypt “have been rising in “recent weeks and months,” and that the government has achieved “good momentum” in decreasing inflation.

For more, please see the SIS article below or watch Minister Nasr’s full interview with Bloomberg.

State Information Service
Nasr: Egypt working to implement economic reform plan
https://www.sis.gov.eg/Story/128403?lang=en-us

Investment Minister Sahar Nasr said that the business landscape in Egypt is very encouraging, noting that legislation have been outlined to guarantee an investment-friendly climate.

She cited the new investment law and the bankruptcy law, not to mention amendments to the companies law.

Speaking in an interview with Richard Quest on CNN, Nasr said the political leadership in Egypt is brave enough to implement an economic reform plan with long-term results.

The plan focuses on long-term benefits, such as creating jobs and achieving social and economic stability, the minister said.

Nasr was in Washington to attend the spring meetings of the World Bank.

She made it clear that the government is working to apply a comprehensive social protection network and to achieve sustainability of its economic reform program.

Egypt is stable at the macroeconomic, political and social levels, Nasr assured.