CAIRO: Egypt and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have made further progress in their discussions, according to a joint statement issued on Sunday by the Egyptian authorities and the IMF. The statement was issued following a meeting in Washington between IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and and Egypt's delegation which had the central bank governor, the finance minister and the international cooperation minister. “The authorities are firmly committed to addressing Egypt's economic and financial challenges with the objective of restoring sustained and socially-balanced growth, and they are already taking encouraging actions in this direction," said the statement. It added that work would continue with the objective of reaching agreement on an IMF Stand-By Arrangement to support the authorities' national economic program in the coming weeks Egypt had initially agreed with the IMF on the loan in November to contain a budget deficit. The agreement was frozen at Cairo's request in the wake of an unrest triggered by a decree issued by President Mohamed Mursi that gave him sweeping powers and shielding his decisions from the judiciary. Egypt's budget had been affected by two years of political unrest and economic turmoil since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak. The country's foreign currency reserves fell to critically low levels, threatening its ability to import essential supplies such as fuel and wheat. The IMF is expected to impose austerity measures on Egypt in order to conclude the agreement. BN
