Egypt Still Recovering

An international credit rating agency says Egypt’s economy has started to improve but has yet to recover from the 2011 uprising and the years of unrest that followed, AP reported. In a Tuesday report, Moody’s hailed recent economic and fiscal reforms, saying they point to “improved government effectiveness and policy predictability,” but said weak finances remain a “key challenge” for the government. Egypt embarked on an ambitious economic reform plan shortly after President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi took office in 2014. The government has slashed subsidies, imposed a value-added tax and allowed currency devaluation in order to qualify for a $12 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund. The agency, which has a B3 stable rating on Egypt’s government finances, said that official government figures indicate that the country achieved GDP growth of 4.2% last year. It expects this to increase to 5% by 2019, driven mainly by private consumption. It said there had been a negative impact on tourism as a result of “heightened domestic political instability” following the 2011 revolution.