The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday said Egypt is making progress towards economic stability, but said authorities still need to widen the country's tax base.
“As Egypt’s macroeconomic stabilisation is taking root, it is now time to accelerate and deepen the reform efforts to reduce the state footprint, level the playing field, and improve the business environment,” the fund said.
An IMF staff mission held discussions with officials in Cairo from May 6 to 18 that could support the completion of the fifth review under Egypt's extended fund facility deal.
The IMF approved an $8 billion agreement in 2024 after first agreeing to a $3 billion programme in 2022.
“Egypt has made substantial progress towards macroeconomic stability,” mission chief Vladkova Holler said in a statement.
The fund said it had upgraded its economic growth forecast for Egypt for the 2024-25 fiscal year to 3.8 per cent. The Central Bank of Egypt last week said it expected real gross domestic product to increase by 4.3 per cent in the 2024-25 fiscal year after a slowdown in growth of 2.4 per cent in fiscal year 2023-24.
While inflation slightly rose to 13.9 per cent in April, the fund noted it remains “on a downwards trend”.
The central bank cut also cut its key interest rates by 100 basis points last week due to accelerated economic growth and a downwards trend in inflation. It was the bank's second rate cut this year.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly has previously said the country would implement more subsidy cuts on fuel, bread, diesel, electricity and water under the IMF programme.
The fund said it welcomed officials' efforts to improve tax and customs procedures to increase efficiency and build confidence.
The IMF also noted reforms are beginning “to yield positive results”.
“Alongside these efforts, domestic revenue mobilisation will need to continue, mainly by widening the tax base and streamlining tax exemptions.”
“With the macroeconomic stabilisation now under way, it is critical for Egypt to carry out deeper reforms to unlock the country’s growth potential, create high-quality jobs for a growing population, and sustainably reduce its vulnerabilities and increase the economy’s resilience to shocks," it said.
The fund said it would continue to hold virtual discussions on policies and reforms that could help support the completion of the fifth review.
The IMF unlocked roughly $2.5 billion in funding for Egypt in March.
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
The biog
Age: 23
Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi
Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering
Favourite hobby: playing the piano
Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"
Family: Married and with a daughter
MATCH RESULT
Liverpool 4 Brighton and Hove Albion 0
Liverpool: Salah (26'), Lovren (40'), Solanke (53'), Robertson (85')
Match info:
Wolves 1
Boly (57')
Manchester City 1
Laporte (69')
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sri Lanka World Cup squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.
Zombieland: Double Tap
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Stars: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone
Four out of five stars
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
pakistan Test squad
Azhar Ali (capt), Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari
