Hany says Egypt’s economy witnessed challenges

Egyptian economic expert Hany Aboul Fotouh stressed that Egypt’s economy witnessed difficult challenges during the recent period, while a number of signs of improvement have appeared during the recent period, stressing that such signs led to a state of cautious optimism over the governmental ability to achieve economic reform.
He added that the government adopted a package of difficult measures during the recent period to achieve reform upon an agreement with International Monetary Fund. He stressed that it was necessary step for the Egyptian government to commit to a program of political reform to contain the financial deficit which has been aggravated for years.
He added, in an interview with "Arabs Today", that the public debt reached to $ 2.7 trillion equaling 98 percent of Egypt's GDP, while the loan will reduce this percentage to 85 percent during the coming three years. He added that the Egyptian economy is in one of its critical periods, stressing the need for taking serious steps to restore its rates of economic growth. He called the government for announcing its future plans to push forward the economic situation.
He signaled to the economic aids that the Gulf States provided to Egypt during the recent years, saying that these aids came to respond to Egypt's sacrifices for its Arab brothers. Regarding the IMF loan, he said that Egypt has a quota in the international institution so it has the right to take the loan, clarifying that the fund's job is to provide support for the member states if they needed.
He added that the fund praised Egypt's economic decision to liberate its currency, it was painful but necessary decision. He added that the fund said the decline in the pound value transcended what was expected but it is not realistic to assess the economic experience in only two or three months.
He called the Egyptian media to deliver the exchanged messages between the citizen and the government, stressing that the governmental official should deal transparently with the citizen during the coming period and reveal the coming measures through the media channels and newspapers.
He added that the media also should perform its role to deliver the messages of citizens to the government and to transfer their visions over the economic reform.