Tough financial reforms put Egypt in the fast lane

Years of tough but successful IMF-led reforms have put Egypt in a great place to rebound strongly from Covid. Its future will be shaped by big infrastructure projects and by a plan to transform the nation into a powerhouse of green finance.

When Ahmed Kouchouk was appointed Egypt’s vice-minister of finance for fiscal policies and institutional reform in March 2016, the country was struggling.

Any flicker of hope its people felt after the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak five years earlier had long since been extinguished.

The IMF reckoned foreign exchange reserves covered about three months of exports and that the exchange rate was overvalued by 25%. Inflation threatened to surge out of control, hitting 31% in December of that year.

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