VenturesNow

Egypt on the verge of securing IMF funding as talks enter final stage

Published

2 years ago

August 23, 2022

The Egyptian government says it is in the final stage of talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to secure new funding in the aftermath of growing economic crisis brought about by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli who announced the progress of the talks during the Logos Coptic Youth Forum held in Alexandria on Monday, said the north African country had no choice but to source for funding from the IMF.

While previewing the most prominent economic files that the government is working on, Madbouli noted that though Egypt has achieved huge growth rates due to the economic reform program of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the government has adopted to approach the international money lender as the economy has been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war crisis.

The process for the loan was laid in July when Finance Minister, Mohamed Maait, pointed out that Egypt was working out the remaining points of difference with the IMF over a new extended fund facility.

Maait had then affirmed that talks with the IMF were ongoing and that they had achieved “very, very good progress.”

The value of the loan has not yet been set but Maait noted on the sidelines of the general assembly meeting of the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re) in Cairo that Egypt had been talks with the IMF since March with the bulk of the discussion centred on a new program that seeks to support Egyptian state’s plans of national comprehensive economic reform.

The new program with the IMF aims at supporting the structural reforms that boost the Egyptian national economy without placing any burdens on citizens, Maait had said.

In the last decade, Egypt has had to turn to the IMF on more than three occasions to serk for a financial leeway, including borrowing $2.8 billion and $5.2 billion in May and June 2020 respectively in addition to $12 billion loan it accessed in 2016.

Related Topics:Economy Egypt Featured IMF loan

Click to comment

VenturesNow

Nigeria’s finance ministry unveils system to monitor tax exemptions

Published

1 hour ago

April 16, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance has unveiled the Incentive Monitoring and Evaluation Platform (IMEP), a cutting-edge computer system meant to make it easier to keep an eye on the tax costs connected to import duty exemption certificates.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, said it was part of a larger plan to cut down on tax spending and make sure that fiscal policies were helping the country’s economy grow.

Edun said the IMEP was meant to change how the Federal Ministry of Finance figures out how much the tax breaks for businesses, non-governmental organizations, and foreign groups affect the economy.

Since President Bola Tinubu took office, Nigeria’s government has been trying to change the country’s fiscal and monetary policies. This has led to bold moves by both the central bank and the tax advisory committee run by Taiwo Oyedele.

Edun said the ministry wanted to improve the monitoring and review of these exemptions by putting in place a strong automated tool. He talked about how the IMEP has many useful features, such as a mechanism for clawing back duties, electronic report generation, a central database for tracking, factory geo-location tagging, industry qualification status validation, integration with many government agencies, and sending demand notices to people who don’t pay their taxes.

“One of the critical objectives of the IMEP is to provide a framework that will prevent ineligible applicants from receiving tax benefits, enforce compliance with fiscal policy measures, and offer a comprehensive analysis of the economic impact of tax incentives.

“By doing so, the ministry hopes to curb the misuse of tax expenditures, support the realisation of economic outcomes from fiscal incentives, and enhance the direct measurement of tax incentives’ effects on the economy,” he noted.

Edun says the system is meant to give a framework to checkmate and limit applicants who aren’t qualified, make sure that strict fiscal policy measures are followed, and give a strong analysis of how tax incentives affect the economy.

“Overall, the introduction of the IMEP represents a significant step towards reducing the cost of tax expenditure and ensuring that tax incentives have a positive impact on the Nigerian economy. This initiative is part of the government’s commitment to fostering transparency, accountability, and efficiency in the management of the nation’s resources,” he explained.

In December, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) said it granted three years of tax exemption to 34 companies in 2023.

VenturesNow

Nigeria’s inflation hits 28-year high of 33.20%

Published

1 day ago

April 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The recent gains of Nigeria’s Naira as the best-performing currency worldwide in the last month have had little or no impact on the consumer price index in the West African country as its inflation rate reached a 28-year high of 33.20%.

According to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s inflation has continued its 15-month-a-row surge driven by soaring food and energy costs despite the central bank’s rate hikes aimed at halting its ascent.

This was 10.37% more than the 21.9% inflation rate seen in March 2023. Year-over-year, rural inflation was 31.45% in March 2024. Rural inflation fell from 2.9% in February 2024 to 2.87 % in March 2024, which was a 0.20 percentage point drop from February 2024.

It went up by 5.71% points from March 2023 to March 2024, when it was 19.79%. The average rural inflation rate for the twelve months finishing in March 2024 was 25.50%.

Food prices went up by 40.1% a year in March 2024, which was 15.56 percentage points more than the rate of 24.45% a year earlier. The statistics office said food and non-alcoholic beverages were the biggest contributors to the pickup in inflation. Food inflation rose to 40.01% year-on-year, from 37.92% a month earlier.

Since President Bola Tinubu ended an expensive gasoline subsidy and devalued the naira twice in his first year in office, price pressures have grown. To get the economy off of subsidies that have hurt the government’s finances, the government recently raised energy rates for people who use the most electricity.