Cairo – Mubasher: The Egyptian parliament’s Economic Committee will chew over four significant issues, including the country’s monetary policy, the International Monetary Fund’s loan (IMF), interest rates and the rising domestic debt, said Ashraf El-Araby, a committee member, on Wednesday.
The economic situation responded sensitively to the central bank’s policy towards the pound’s value and IMF loans, El-Araby told Mubasher.
Amidst rising speculations about a possible devaluation and the present soaring inflation rates, the central bank kept the Egyptian pound steady at a cut-off price of 8.78 per dollar and is expected to hike interest rates in the upcoming meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee.
Moreover, Reuters News Agency earlier reported that Egypt is holding negotiations for taking out $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, according to a member in the economic committee, who preferred to stay anonymous.
Yet, both El Araby and Tarek Amer, the CBE governor, denied any official talks between the two parties over a $5 billion loan.
Currently, the government is facing a catch-22 economic situation that necessitates reconsidering all economic issues, namely surging inflation rates, he concluded.
On Sunday, Egypt’s core price index, which covers urban consumers only, annually rose to 12.37% in June, compared with 12.23% in May, said the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Meanwhile, the core inflation moved up to 12.37% year-over-year in June versus 12.23% a month earlier.
