Dubai/Cairo — The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) recipe to stabilise economies does not work for Egypt, says Mark Mobius, the executive chairperson of Templeton Emerging Market Group. When the IMF goes into a country "they say ‘look, first of all, you’ve got to solve inflation, you’ve got to raise interest rates and increase taxes", Mobius said on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai. "These go well and good when the environment is healthy. But in an environment like in Egypt now, it is not a healthy situation at this stage." Egypt’s central bank unexpectedly raised the benchmark interest rate by two percentage points to 16.75% on Sunday night, saying the move was needed to curb "demand-side pressure" and rising consumer prices. Inflation accelerated above 30% in 2017 after the nation removed currency controls in November to help finalise a $12bn IMF loan, allowing the pound to weaken about 50%. Sunday’s move came a month after the IMF said curbing inflation should be Egypt...
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