Ahram - The Egyptian economy is set to fully recover from its current crisis in 2025, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stated in a press conference on Wednesday. The government is planning to reduce inflation to below 10 percent in 2025, Madbouly stated.
The prime minister said the cost of diesel, bread, supplies, liquefied natural gas (LNG) cylinders, and electricity subsidies soared to EGP 342 billion in 2023 from less than EGP 100 billion in 2021.
The cost of borrowing also surged to 25 percent, down from 10 percent before 2022, he added. Notably, Egypt experienced a surge in headline inflation rates during the first nine months of 2023, reaching its peak in September at 40.3 percent.
However, the inflationary trend began to decelerate in October 2023, with the annual headline inflation rate declining to 36.4 percent in November 2023, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Egypt is actively seeking additional funding to close a $17 billion financing gap by 2026, projected to be between $6 and $8 billion for FY2023/2024. The country must also procure more hard currency to fulfill its commitment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Egypt is currently involved in a four-year $3 billion loan programme with the IMF that necessitates a series of economic reforms, including adopting a flexible exchange rate.
The country seeks to collect $191 billion in annual US dollar liquidity by 2026.
