Interview: SBA loan for Egypt to boost second wave of reforms, first review to be executed in December – IMF’s Jihad Azour

Interview: SBA loan for Egypt to boost second wave of reforms, first review to be executed in December – IMF’s Jihad Azour

Although IMF has downgraded all its expectations for the Middle East and Central Asia region (MCD) to -4.7 percent in 2020, 2 percent lower than its April projections, Egypt has maintained its positive outlook amid the severe impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the region's economy.

In an interview with Ahram Online, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Jihad Azour explained the reasons behind revising the region's economic outlook and the details of the SBA loan that the IMF approved for Egypt in June.

Ahram Online: How can the economic recovery process be managed by MENA governments to achieve a rebound from the COVID-19 crisis?

Jihad Azour: The COVID-19 crisis is one of the hardest economic, health and social challenges that the MENA region has faced due to several reasons, including the strict measures that have been adopted to contain the outbreak and protect the people.

These measures have coincided with the global oil prices collapsing, which has had notable impacts on oil exporting economies and affected other countries' economies due to the significant number of their nationals working in oil-rich countries.

Despite this, we have found that MENA countries have