A teaspoon of honey makes the medicine go down: In view of traditional public skepticism of the IMF, the Finance Ministry is working overtime to emphasize that the USD 12 bn package is not about “conditions” but international endorsement of a home-grown reform agenda. That was the theme of Finance Minister Amr El Garhy’s hour-long interview on MBC Masr’s “Yahduth fi Masr” last night.

“The IMF loan is to help realize the reforms Egypt has had in place years ago,” said El Garhy. El Garhy’s did a good job explaining the loan and addressing concerns that the IMF is some sort of foreign bogeyman. He added that the government has already begun talks with the House about the IMF loan, which will require ratification by parliament if a base agreement is reached.

The interview covered the spectrum of key economic issues, including the FX crisis. El Garhy tied the country’s foreign exchange policy with plans to grow exports and, at the same time, curb imports. The minister said he is optimistic Egypt will bounce back from the FX crisis and dispelled the notion that the reform agenda (including the value-added tax) would cut into Egypt’s middle class. El Garhy also defended the government’s push for national projects, denying they helped shrink FX reserves and saying they have helped build the foundation for future growth.

El Garhy’s interview was part of a series of public statements issued by the ministry on Sunday on the IMF talks, including one urging the media to stop calling discussion points between the IMF and the ministry “conditions.” The ministry also denied yesterday that the IMF had set firing civil servants as a condition for the loan.

Watch Garhy’s full interview on MBC Masr’s Shahed portal (runtime: 53:17)