IMF: Egypt reforms starting to turn economy around

The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that Egypt’s structural and monetary reforms were starting to produce a turnaround in the economy, which has been hit by persistent turmoil since 2011.The uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak four years ago hit the country’s economy hard, discouraging investors and tourists and slashing growth to below 2 percent in 2010/11.

Egypt’s current government has since embarked on a series of reforms, and asked the IMF to assess its financial and economic condition in the hope that a positive report would boost its image ahead of an international investors conference in March. “The measures implemented so far, along with some recovery in confidence, are starting to produce a turnaround,” the IMF said in a press release.