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Thursday, 25 July 2019

Egypt’s talking heads were occupied with IMF’s final USD 2 bn disbursal

The IMF’s executive board sign off on the final USD 2 bn tranche of the USD 12 bn facility to Egypt was the topic du jour on the airwaves last night. We have the full story in this morning’s Speed Round, below.

Egypt has “largely” achieved the goals of reform, IMF director for the area Jihad Azour told Sherif Amer in a phone-in to Yahduth Fi Misr. Azour praised the government’s efforts to give a larger role to the private sector, boost investor confidence, and prop up tourism and exports, but stressed that reform is an ongoing process (watch, runtime: 18:44).

Azour reiterated that the IMF will remain engaged with Egypt through post-program monitoring. “If the government is looking to continue through any other type of cooperation, the IMF will be open,” he added. This could be in the form of technical or policy advice.

This week’s Cabinet meeting was in New Alamein,Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Assal noted (watch, runtime: 2:32). Assal phoned Cabinet Spokesman Nader Saad, who praised the city for being the first of its kind in the North Coast (watch, runtime: 12:24). We have a rundown of key decisions made at the meeting in Speed Round, below.

Paying your taxes doesn’t have to put a damper on your summer plans: The Finance Ministry is collaborating with the Arab Organization for Industrialization to set up new real estate tax collection kiosks in North Coast, Ain Sokhna, Taba, and Ras Sudr for vacationing taxpayers to avoid commuting back to Cairo (watch, runtime: 2:17).

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