The government is closely monitoring how the Russian-Ukrainian crisis affects global prices as well as procurement supply chains, which coincided with rapidly rising interest rates worldwide, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said.

The government plans to deal with these challenges based on a worst-case scenario that presupposes a prolonged period of conflict, Maait added in a statement released Saturday 26/03/2022 by the ministry.

“Global economic environment has been undergoing subsequent changes which cast their shadows on various economies, especially emerging ones,” the minister said.

In light of these developments, the government is committed to adopting all the measures and policies necessary for macroeconomic stabilization, sustaining macroeconomic stability in face of these unprecedented global challenges, and alleviating the burden on citizens as well as the sectors hardest hit by the global crisis, Maait pointed out.

This will be achieved by taking proactive steps to support export as well as industrial growth, which would help create new jobs, improve standards of living, and upgrade public services, Maait explained.

The government has also decided to resort to the IMF for talks on a new program aimed at maintaining economic and financial stability, consolidating economic comprehensive structural reforms, and building economic resilience against the negative effects of external shocks, the minister noted.

He also cited presidential directives to work for safeguarding the gains of economic reforms in such a manner that enables the government to achieve its growth targets, meet development needs, and expand social safety nets, while absorbing as much as possible from global shocks.

Source: State Information Service Egypt