Middle Eastern fund managers plan to raise their investments in Egypt in the second quarter of 2020, Reuters news website reports.
The majority of fund managers surveyed by Reuters said they would increase their allocations in the North African country despite that the market’s vulnerability to coronavirus due to its reliance on tourism and expats’ remittances from the Gulf.
One manager polled said that Egypt is “one of the few countries that could potentially register positive growth this year, because of foreign reserves and credit lines with international financial institutions.”
According to a recent poll, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates seem to be the most vulnerable due to tumbling oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic.
On April 26, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that Egypt is in talks with IMF for a financial assistance deal as well as technical support to cushion the pandemic’s negative implications.
In response, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva announced the fund’s support for Egypt’s efforts to safeguard the achievements made by the economic reform program under the completed three-year Extended Fund Facility.