Director General Kristalina Georgieva says the war between Israel and Gaza has had an economic impact on neighboring countries.
The International Monetary Fund is seeking to increase Egypt’s loan program due to the effects of the war in the neighboring Gaza Strip, according to a Reuters report.
Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters on Friday that the IMF was “seriously considering” a possible increase in Egypt’s loan program by $3 billion due to economic difficulties posed by the war between Israel and Gaza.
Egypt began seeking a new IMF loan after Russia’s war in Ukraine sent up its wheat and oil bills while dealing a blow to tourism in two of its biggest markets, Ukraine and the Russia.
In October last year, the IMF agreed to provide the loan to Cairo, adding that the loan program would include “policies aimed at unleashing private sector growth, including reducing the state’s footprint, by adopting a more robust competition framework, strengthening transparency and ensuring better trade facilitation.” “.
Georgieva’s comments came in an interview on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.
She said the war in Gaza is not only “devastating” the population and economy of the besieged strip, but is also having “severe impacts” on the economy of the West Bank and also poses difficulties for neighboring countries. such as Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan due to the loss of their territories. tourism and higher energy costs.
At the APEC summit, the 21 members, including the United States, China and Russia, remained divided over the war on Gaza.
A statement released this year by APEC Chairman the United States said the leaders exchanged views on the Gaza crisis, with some objecting to the language of the president’s statement in a “Statement of the Golden Gate” which covers economic issues “on the basis that they do not believe APEC is a forum for discussing geopolitical issues.
Some APEC leaders shared common messages from the Nov. 11 joint Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh, according to the president’s statement.
Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia said in a joint statement that they were among APEC leaders who supported messages from the Riyadh summit, which called for an immediate end to military operations in Gaza, rejecting the justification by Israel of its actions against the Palestinians as self-defense. .
