CAIRO: The current fiscal buffers and measures undertaken by governments in response to plummeting oil prices are “inadequate,” and further reforms must be considered, International Monetary Fund economic Bruno Versailles stated in a Tuesday video message on the IMF site.
After “a tough twelve months for oil markets,” Versailles said that oil export revenues are expected to be $360 billion lower than they would have been at 2014 levels.
He added that with fiscal spending as the “key driver of non-oil growth,” governments must focus on energy pricing reform and prioritize essential social spending.
Egypt’s revised budget for fiscal year (FY) 2015/2016, economic growth was projected at about five percent, compared to 4.2 percent during FY 2014/2015, and an average of two percent over the past three years.
The International Monetary Fund projected that Egypt’s economy would grow by five percent by 2020, according to its World Economic Outlook (WEO) released Oct. 8.
The fund’s outlook for Egypt’s economy comes in line with a positive report issued by the IMF mission visit to Cairo in September to review recent economic developments since the Article IV Consultation mission in November 2014.