Egypt will announce within days the date for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to visit Cairo to complete its long-delayed programme reviews, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference, Madbouly said there was "positive alignment" with the IMF following Egypt's participation in last week's annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington. "The mission's visit will be announced in the coming days, and we hope it will take place within the next few weeks," Madbouly said. He added that Egypt's delegation in Washington presented the country's recent structural and economic reforms, highlighting efforts to expand private-sector participation and the resilience of the economy in facing global and regional challenges over the past two years. Madbouly said growth in productive sectors such as industry, exports, tourism, and information and communications technology was driving the economy. "Egypt's economy today is growing because of productive sectors, not seasonal interventions," Madbouly said. "All international institutions agreed that Egypt is genuinely moving in the right direction." The prime minister added that discussions in Washington also focused on the government's state asset offering programme, which some institutions viewed as progressing slower than planned. "We explained that regional circumstances had slowed the process, but it remains a core element of our economic reform programme. We do not sell state assets just for the sake of selling them; the goal is to maximise their value." Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English
