The International Monetary Fund's managing director Christine Lagarde will participate in Egypt's March Economic Development Conference, the fund's spokesman confirmed Saturday. The Egyptian summit will take place on March 13-15, 2015, with the theme of "Egypt the Future", aiming to encourage Gulf and international companies and organisations to invest in the country and contribute to its development. Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund said that Egypt's structural and monetary reforms were starting to produce a turnaround in the economy, which has been hit by persistent turmoil since 2011. Egypt's current government has since embarked on a series of reforms, and asked the IMF to assess its financial and economic condition in the hope that a positive report would boost its image ahead of an international investors conference in March. "The measures implemented so far, along with some recovery in confidence, are starting to produce a turnaround," said the IMF in a press release at the conclusion of its consultations. Egypt's finance minister described the fund's report as "very balanced", adding that it was not currently planning to discuss a new loan deal with the IMF. The IMF Mission Chief to Egypt, Chris Jarvis, stressed that Egypt needed to create jobs, in a country where the unemployment rate is 13 percent. "The most important economic priority for Egypt is jobs. Egypt needs to find a way of creating good jobs for its people while at the same time reducing its budget deficit and maintaining foreign exchange reserves," he told reporters. Jarvis said the IMF stood willing to help Egypt. "If Egypt asks for financial support, we can offer that, together with the credibility that comes with having an IMF programme, but I should stress that this is a choice for Egypt." In its release, the IMF welcomed recent movements in the exchange rates "as an important step in the right direction". Egypt hopes the conference – at which state agencies will unveil a raft of potential investment projects to would-be investors – will bring in some $20 billion worth of investments.
