Dr. Abdel Shakour Shaalan, the Executive Director representing Egypt and twelve Arab countries and the Maldives on the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has asserted that the Egyptian government has finalized the IMF’s essential requests for the $ 4.8 billion loan, which it is still under negotiation, expecting that the final document for agreement loan will be signed within five weeks.
Shaalan added, during his meeting with the media delegation accompanying the AmCham’s Doorknock mission chaired by Gamal Moharram, that there is no intention to increase the loan’s value as what had been rumored recently, pointing out that the approval of IMF to Egypt on the loan will allow to access many grants and aids notably EU aid, which was announced earlier by it, as well as it will be like a confidence certificate to the Egyptian economy outside all the donor countries.
The IMF’s delegation are being held talks in Cairo since April 4th regarding an economic program, which includes gradually reform to fuel subsidies that eats up 21% of the budget, or 12% of the gross domestic product (GDP), or imposing a sales tax on a number of goods or entering further amendments on the support policies and the need for Popular consensus on the government’s economic program to ensure its implementation.
Moreover, Shaalan expresses his optimism about the future of the Egyptian economy in the coming years as the it has all the mechanisms that can attract investments and investors along with the rocketing growth rates which it owns, noting that Egypt has a strong economic reform program to overcome its current crisis under the Egyptian government’s commitment to implement this program; confirming that the Egyptian management is moving in the right direction.
Shaalan has affirmed that the Egyptian crisis experienced by Egypt would have occurred even in the absence of 25 January revolution a reference to the growing overpopulation that are not offset by achieving real growth rates according to the official states Index.
It is worth mentioning that many institutions and international bodies have pledged earlier to provide aids to Egypt notably EU with € 5 billion over the next two years through the EU’s institutions representing in the European Investment Bank (EIB) at € 2 billion while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development(EBRD) amounts to € 2 billion too, in addition to the support provided by the European countries to Egypt bilaterally with € 1 billion.
