Egypt’s inflation to fall next year, economy now better: IMF

CAIRO – 15 July 2017: Egypt’s inflation will significantly fall next summer, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Chris Jarvis said Saturday.

In a video published on the IMF’s Twitter account, Jarvis said that Egypt is now in a much better place than it was a year ago.

“The goal of the program is to bring inflation down...the actions that the central bank is taking are the right ones to achieve its inflation target and bring inflation down,” he said, highlighting that high inflation rates are partly attributed to the depreciation of the exchange rate last year.

Jarvis stressed that Egypt’s economy is now better compared to last year. “Foreign exchange shortages are a thing of the past, exports are going up, and the budget is stronger,” he said.

He added that conditions of the Egyptian people will improve and that the government will be able to provide the necessary services as per the available resources.
On energy subsidies, Jarvis said that raising fuel prices is part of the government’s economic program, adding that this measure will save more resources for health, education and social security programs.