Egypt's NUCA, SHMFF sign New Cairo land allocation for integrated urban project    CIB named Egypt's Bank of the Year 2025 as factoring portfolio hits EGP 4bn    Egypt declares Red Sea's Great Coral Reef a new marine protected area    Oil prices edge higher on Thursday    Gold prices fall on Thursday    Egypt, Volkswagen discuss multi-stage plan to localise car manufacturing    Egypt denies coordination with Israel over Rafah crossing    Egypt to swap capital gains for stamp duty to boost stock market investment    Egypt tackles waste sector funding gaps, local governance reforms    Egypt, Switzerland explore expanded health cooperation, joint pharmaceutical ventures    Egypt recovers two ancient artefacts from Belgium    Private Egyptian firm Tornex target drones and logistics UAVs at EDEX 2025    Egypt opens COP24 Mediterranean, urges faster transition to sustainable blue economy    Egypt's Abdelatty urges deployment of international stabilisation force in Gaza during Berlin talks    Egypt, Saudi nuclear authorities sign MoU to boost cooperation on nuclear safety    Giza master plan targets major hotel expansion to match Grand Egyptian Museum launch    Australia returns 17 rare ancient Egyptian artefacts    China invites Egypt to join African duty-free export scheme    Egypt calls for stronger Africa-Europe partnership at Luanda summit    Egypt begins 2nd round of parliamentary elections with 34.6m eligible voters    Egypt warns of erratic Ethiopian dam operations after sharp swings in Blue Nile flows    Egypt scraps parliamentary election results in 19 districts over violations    Egypt extends Ramses II Tokyo Exhibition as it draws 350k visitors to date    Egypt signs host agreement for Barcelona Convention COP24 in December    Al-Sisi urges probe into election events, says vote could be cancelled if necessary    Filmmakers, experts to discuss teen mental health at Cairo festival panel    Cairo International Film Festival to premiere 'Malaga Alley,' honour Khaled El Nabawy    Egypt golf team reclaims Arab standing with silver; Omar Hisham Talaat congratulates team    Egypt launches National Strategy for Rare Diseases at PHDC'25    Egypt launches Red Sea Open to boost tourism, international profile    Omar Hisham Talaat: Media partnership with 'On Sports' key to promoting Egyptian golf tourism    Sisi expands national support fund to include diplomats who died on duty    Egypt's PM reviews efforts to remove Nile River encroachments    Egypt resolves dispute between top African sports bodies ahead of 2027 African Games    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.




Amwal Al Ghad Published in Amwal Al Ghad on 30 - 03 - 2020

The Institute of International Finance (IIF) changed its forecasts for Egypt's growth to 2.7 percent from 5.4 percent in its recent reports about COVID-19's impacts on the region's economy.
It also downgrades its MENA growth forecast to -0.3% from their original 2020 forecast of 1.8 percent growth.
"MENA's current account is set to shift from a surplus of $28bn in 2019 to a deficit of $92bn in 2020, with the fiscal deficit widening from 3.7 percent of GDP in 2019 to 8.8 percent in 2020," the report said.
It added that a global recession will lead to a reduction in trade, foreign direct investment, tourism flows, and remittances to Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Lebanon, adding that Egypt stands to see a significant drop in Suez Canal transit revenue.
Non-resident capital flows to the MENA region are expected to decrease from $182 billion in 2019 to $101 billion in 2020, on the back of lower equity and debt flows, according the report.
"As in 2008 and 2009, resident outflows, mostly in the form of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), will decline sharply from $215 in 2019 to $136 billion in 2020, reflecting the increasing need to tap SWFs to finance the large deficits. Nonetheless, official reserves are expected to drop by $120 billion, mostly in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iraq, and Iran. We also project a sharp decline in the cumulative SWFs of Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE," the report projected.
Regarding global oil prices, the IIF expects that the nine MENA oil exporters will see a fall in hydrocarbon earnings in 2020 of $192 billion, which equals 11 percent of GDP.
For oil exporters, the IIF says they are likely to record large fiscal deficits due to the collapse in oil revenue, leading to a rise in public debt.
As a result, the cumulative current account balance would shift from a surplus of $65 billion in 2019 to a deficit of $67 billion in 2020, and the fiscal deficit would rise from 2.9 percent of GDP to 9.1 percent, the report projected.
The service sector will be hit the hardest as a result of social distancing, the report said.

Clic here to read the story from its source.