IMF Sees Middle East Growth Recovery, 3.4% in 2026

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00:00Let me ask you about Egypt as well. How are the discussions last week in D.C.?

00:05We had positive discussions with the Egyptian authorities. As you know, the Egyptian economy is recovering.

00:12Growth is improving. Inflation is coming down. And also we are seeing a surplus in primary balance.

00:23This has helped Egypt to improve its stability despite all these shocks.

00:30What is needed for Egypt today is to accelerate on the growth agenda.

00:35The growth agenda has three pillars. One is to level the playing field for the private sector.

00:40Two is to divest, especially that there are a certain number of entities in the public sector that they are in the competitive domain.

00:48A recent study showed that 72% of the SOEs are in the commercial domain.

00:54Therefore, I think there is great opportunity here for the state to reposition itself from being a competitor to being an enabler.

01:01Three, which is very important, is to, with all the transformations that are taking place, for Egypt also to reposition its economy.

01:10Yeah. Do you believe that Egypt has made enough progress on asset sales?

01:14Egypt has started with a plan on that. In 2022, they have now a list of assets.

01:22They have created a certain number of institutions in charge of that.

01:26I think now it's the time to accelerate transactions and also to open up certain sectors for more competition.

01:34And is it your expectation that Egypt will pass the reviews by end of 2025?

01:38I know that the fifth and the sixth programs were combined together.

01:41Yes. Fifth and fifth review, in addition to the first review of the resilient sustainability facility that comes to help on the energy side.

01:50We are currently discussing what the authorities to see if everything is ready.

01:54And when things are ready, we will immediately send a mission in order to finalize the review.