Egypt is currently speaking with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG) to discuss its reform program with financial institutions and credit agencies, according to Minister of International Cooperation Najla Ahwani.
"The IMF and the WBG should support countries' efforts to leverage additional resources outside the region, such as Tunisia’s recent global conference and Egypt's upcoming 2015 Economic Summit that will be geared toward attracting investments globally," according to a statement by the meeting of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four (G24) on International Monetary Affairs and Development, which was chaired by Najla Ahwani on Thursday.
The G24 statement also said that they "continue to call for increased resources and flexibility from international financial institutions."
The IMG and WBG meetings will also include inviting experts from international banks and investment funds to Egypt’s Partners Conference that will take place next March in Sharm al-Sheikh, said Minister of Finance Hany Qadry Dimian.
Meanwhile, Dimian will ask the IMF delegation to set a date for evaluating the Egyptian economy in light of the recent procedures carried out to lower energy subsidies and the budget deficit.
On Wednesday, the Minister of International Cooperation Najla Ahwani wrote an article in the Hill magazine, issued by the American Congress that America should support Egypt's economic renaissance.
"Ongoing American support for Egypt will be necessary as we build a more prosperous Egypt and more stable Middle East," she said. "Egypt’s success in this endeavor is in the shared economic and strategic interests of Egyptians and Americans alike."
It is noteworthy that Egypt plans to reduce total deficit to 10.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and public debt to 82.8 percent by 2017, according to Dimian.
A recent report by the Ministry of Finance has shown an increase in total tax proceeds in the past two months, July and August 2014, to LE27.9 billiob representing 21 percent increase over 2013.
However, 39 percent lower non-tax revenues have offset the increase in tax revenues.
The budget deficit increased to LE56 billion (2.3 percent of GDP) in the past two months compared to 2 percent over the same period in 2013, driven by an increase in total expenditures by 21.6 percent to record LE89.9 billion.
Egypt obtained grants worth LE4 billion in July and August 2014 compared to around LE6.98 billion in 2013.
In its World Economic Outlook report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected that GDP growth rate in Egypt will stand at 3.5 percent in 2015, compared to 2.2 percent in 2014.
