国际英语资讯:Feature: Egyptians flock to markets for Christmas, New Years gifts_时事

国际英语资讯:Feature: Egyptians flock to markets for Christmas, New Years gifts

The middle-aged man hoped that the economic situation in Egypt would improve soon under the government's reform plan, which he believes would boost the country's economy.

Over the past few years, Egypt has been struggling to overcome an economic recession resulting from political turmoil and relevant security challenges, which led the country in late 2016 to start a strict three-year economic reform program.

The program includes austerity measures, energy subsidy cuts and tax increases, in addition to local currency floatation to contain U.S. dollar shortage.

Despite causing price hikes and high inflation rates, the liberalization of the Egyptian pound's exchange rate encouraged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support Egypt's reform plan by providing a 12-billion-U.S. dollar loan, two-thirds of which has already been delivered, while Egypt expects a tranche of two billion dollars from the loan within weeks.

A report released in early May by the Center for International Development at Harvard University ranked Egypt as the world's third fastest growing economy in the coming decade after India and Uganda.

Egypt achieved a high growth of 5.3 percent in the 2017-18 fiscal year, which runs from the beginning of July to the end of June.

"I cannot say the season is bad," street seller of toys and gifts Ahmed Hassan told Xinhua. "Despite the high prices of goods, people still buy because the Christmas and New Year events are widely celebrated in our country."