IMF: Egypt proceeds on right way

On the sidelines of the activities of the Egyptian "Door Knock Mission" currently visiting the USA,. Dr. Abdul Shakour Shaalan, representative of the Arab States to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Egypt is proceeding on the right way towards sustainable economic reform and there are no points of difference between Egypt and the IMF.

Shaalan added that a mission of the IMF would visit Cairo late April for talks with Egyptian officials on drawing up a report on the economy, its problems and the IMF's viewpoint on proposed solutions following consultations between both sides.

He praised the Egyptian government for its intensive efforts to ensure a stable, successful economy over the past five years.

Shaalan pointed out that there is no acute problem concerning the rate of exchange although the Dollar is still in high demand and the Central Bank of Egypt intervened in a bid to restore stability to the market. "The volume of liquidity in the Egyptian market is satisfactory and due measures were taken to curb the volume of credits offered to the public and private sector", he said.

He indicated that there are still some obstacles to the influx of the foreign investments into Egypt.

"The government has a major privatization program to be carried out this year and Prime Minister Atef Ebeid announced some steps to curb the abject poverty of the low-income brackets", he added.