Egypt loses 70% of Suez Canal revenue due to Gaza war – IMF

The ongoing Gaza conflict has severely affected Egypt’s economy, leading to a sharp 70 percent drop in Suez Canal revenues Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said.

In an interview with Youm7, Georgieva acknowledged Egypt’s commitment to advancing crucial economic reforms despite the challenges posed by regional instability.

Georgieva announced plans to visit Egypt within the next 10 days to evaluate its economic indicators and assess how regional and global developments are impacting the country’s financial stability.

The IMF recently updated its economic projections for Egypt, forecasting GDP growth to rebound to 4.1 percent by FY2025/2026—a notable improvement from the 2.7 percent projected for FY2024/2025. Egypt’s GDP growth for FY2023/2024 reached 3.8 percent, surpassing the IMF’s earlier estimate of 2.7 percent made in July.

The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook expressed concern over Egypt’s current account balance, projected to reach -6.6 percent in FY2024/2025, with a slight improvement to -6.4 percent expected by FY2025/2026. Inflation remains a significant challenge, with consumer prices rising to 24.4 percent in FY2023/2024. Inflation is expected to peak at 33.3 percent in FY2024/2025, before easing to 21.2 percent in FY2025/2026.