Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Tarek Amer and Minister of Investment Sahar Nasr are on their way to Washington to attend the spring meetings held by the board of governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The 2018 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) will be convened in Washington, DC, from April 17 to April 22. In addition to Tarek Amer, the meetings will be attended by a group of officials from the Central Bank of Egypt including deputy governors of CBE Lubna Hilal and Rami Abul Naga, and Deputy Governor of the Banking Development Sector Hany Genana. The meetings will cover issues related to the monetary policy, the economic and social program of the government and the progress made in the Egyptian economic reform program. Egypt had embarked on a bold economic reform program that included the introduction of taxes, such as the value-added tax (VAT) and cutting energy subsidies, all with the aim of trimming the budget deficit. The country floated its currency in November 2016 before it clinched a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF Executive Board approved in November 2016 a three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFT) loan to Egypt worth $12 billion to support its economic reform program. In December 2017, Cairo received the third $2 billion tranche of its loan, bringing total disbursements to $6.08 billion. The $2 billion fourth tranche will be received by Cairo after concluding the program's third review in June. Continuing the reforms decisions, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Egypt lowered the interest rates for the second time this year by 1 percent on Thursday March 29. The committee set the overnight rate, and the overnight lending rate, at 16.75 percent and 17.75 percent, respectively. In February, the committee lowered the interest rates by 1 percent for the first time since the flotation of the Egyptian currency in November 2016, after inflation rates slowed down.
