Egypt's Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly has praised a positive report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the country's economic performance. Despite the current crisis in emerging markets, the IMF forecast for Egyptian economic growth remained unchanged, said Cabinet spokesman Nader Saad on Sunday. The IMF believes the Egyptian economy will grow by 5.5 percent in 2019 due to a rebounding tourism sector and a trustworthy economic reform programme, Saad noted The ambitious reform programme is being implemented by Egypt with the help of a five-year IMF credit facility worth 12 billion dollars, he added. The report said the Egyptian economy will grow by 5.3 percent in 2018. The average growth rate is likely to reach 6 percent until 2023, and unemployment could decline to 9.9 percent in 2019, down from 10.9 this year, according to the IMF report. It also pointed to an expected drop in inflation rates to about 14 percent in 2019 compared with 20.9 percent in 2018. Source: Ahram Online & MENA
