The Minister of Finance, Amr El Garhy, said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has not requested from Egypt imposing incremental taxes or offering monetary support to citizens in order to reduce the gap between social classes. In a report on Monday, El Garhy continued that none of this was requested at all. He added that the ministry showcased the potential support to be provided to the beneficiaries, in addition to the social protection package in 2017/2018 budget. The IMF report issued on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank which were finished on Sunday, has showed that the IMF advised countries with major differences between classes to impose incremental taxes and offer monetary support to all citizens despite their incomes, with expansions in spending on health and education. El Garhy went on to explain that there is major appreciation from IMF's side, as well as international institutions and banks for the Egyptian economic reform programs. "It has exceed our expectations, where the program was implemented really well. Everyone in Washington is looking at Egypt as the next star of the investment the upcoming period," he added. El Garhy added that he met with IMF's CEO Christine Lagarde countries of the MENA region. The meeting discussed the so-called growth of the economy, which means that the economy is growing in a way that creates great job opportunities for those who are joining the market recently in addition to discussing existing challenges in all other countries. The finance minister pointed out that we are looking at the total debt of GDP and we have a plan to reduce debt levels of GDP ratio, while foreign debt we have a plan to reduce its rates as well.
