February 19, 2026Press Briefing Transcript: Julie Kozack, Director, Communications Department, February 19, 2026

February 19, 2026

Speaker: Ms. Julie Kozack, Director of the Communications Department, IMF

MS. KOZACK: Hello, everyone. Welcome to this IMF Press Briefing. It's great to see everyone here, those of you here in person, and also people joining online. I'm Julie Kozak, Director of the Communications Department at the IMF, and as usual this press briefing is embargoed until 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time in the United States.

Let me start with a few announcements, and then I'll take your questions in person, on Webex, and via the Press Center.

First, the Managing Director is currently visiting South Asia. Yesterday, she concluded a three-day visit to Sri Lanka, where she visited cyclone-hit areas and met with the Sri Lankan authorities as well as representatives from civil society and the private sector. The Managing Director is now in India, where she is participating in the India AI Summit. During her visit, she is also scheduled to meet with the Indian authorities.

On February 25th, the Managing Director will participate in the U.S., United States, Article IV press conference here in Washington, D.C., and of course, we'll have more information for you about that press conference.

From March 2nd to March 13th, the Managing Director will undertake a multi-country visit to Southeast and East Asia. So, breaking that down, from March 2nd to 6th, she will visit Thailand as part of the preparations for the 2026 Annual Meetings, which will be held in Bangkok. During this visit, she will participate also in the high-level Asia in 2050 conference, among other engagements.

Then, from March 7th through 9th, the Managing Director will be in Japan, where she will deliver a keynote address at a symposium organized by Japan's Ministry of Finance. The symposium is titled the Future of the Global Economy Amid a Fluid International Economic and Monetary Order. She will also hold bilateral meetings with the Japanese authorities.

Then, from March 10th to 13th, the Managing Director will visit the Philippines, where she will meet with the government authorities and other stakeholders.

Turning now to First Deputy Managing Director Dan Katz, he will participate in the Milken Institute's Future of Finance event here in Washington on March 3rd.

Deputy Managing Director Bo Li will be in Fiji from March 12th to 13th, attending an IMF Pacific Islands High-Level Dialogue. The dialogue will gather senior policymakers, development partners, and subject matter experts to engage in discussions on economic issues affecting the Pacific Island countries.

DMD Li will then visit Gambia from March 16th to 17th. He will meet with President Barrow and other senior officials, as well as other stakeholders, to discuss the IMF's ongoing support to the Gambia.

Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke will be at Asuncion, Paraguay, on March 13th and 14th to participate in the Inter-American Development Bank's Annual meetings. He will give the keynote address at a session on the IADB's business forum on Friday, March 13th.

And with those announcements, I will now open the floor to your questions. For those connecting virtually, please turn on both your camera and microphone when speaking. And the floor is now open.

Okay, let's go ahead and start with you.

QUESTIONER: Hi Julie. A couple of questions, but let's start with Ukraine. So first of all, could you please tell us when the Executive Board is going to approve the next credit program for Ukraine? Is there -- will there be any announcements this week, this month, or later? And the second part, Yuliia Svyrydenko told that the IMF had dropped some requirements for tax reforms for Ukraine as an order for receiving new credit facility loan. So, could you please confirm with us and tell what is behind this decision? Thank you.

MS. KOZACK: Okay, great. Are there other questions on Ukraine? Okay, right here. Orange jacket, yellow jacket. Gentlemen in the second row.

QUESTIONER: All the colors of the rainbow.

MS. KOZACK: Yes. (laughter)

QUESTIONER: Yes, just on the Ukraine thing too. I wanted to ask some of getting to that given what we've heard about the sort of need to change the pace for Ukraine's meeting the conditions and the prior conditions. You know, do you have kind of a different timeline for this program than you might have envisioned initially? And also, next week will mark the fourth anniversary of the war, and we are expecting, of course, some news from the World Bank about the estimate of the damage in Ukraine. I realize that is not an IMF product that's being put together, but can you say from your point of view what you sort of broadly think about the damage levels there, given the attacks on the energy infrastructure? Thank you.

MS. KOZACK: Okay. Right here.

QUESTIONER: Hi. I'm curious about the VAT (phonetic) requirements for Ukrainians. Many experts criticize it for the growth of shadow economy and stuff like. And also, since IMF doesn't confirm the conditionality according to Svyrydenko, I'm really curious whether this will kind of like not ensure that IMF -- Ukraine is going to pay back to IMF. Thank you.

MS. KOZACK: And, you had a question on Ukraine, right?

QUESTIONER: Thank you very much. Follow-up question. It's almost four years since Ukraine war started. And what is the analysis on the economy of Ukraine and the outlook of the economy? And what the challenge for Ukraine at the moment? Thank you.

MS. KOZACK: Okay, very good. If there's anyone online on Ukraine, please come on in.

All right. Okay. So maybe just to give the state of play for Ukraine. So in November of 2025, IMF Staff and the Ukrainian authorities reached a Staff-Level Agreement on a new four-year EFF arrangement, and the potential access was U.S. $8.1 billion. Following receipt of adequate financing assurances, those have been received from international partners and also completion of the agreed prior actions by the authorities we are aiming to bring, our team is aiming to bring this program request to our Executive Board in the coming days.

Now, in terms of the overall economic situation in Ukraine, what I can say is that Russia's invasion continues to take a heavy toll on Ukraine's people and on its economy. The intensified aerial attacks through 2025 and into 2026 have damaged critical energy and logistics infrastructure, and these have remained major targets for attacks.

What we see in terms of the economic impact, aside from, of course, the toll on the people of Ukraine, is we do see that growth is likely to be slightly under 2 percent in 2025. We see signs of disruptions to the economic activity from the large-scale attacks on energy and logistical infrastructure. And of course we are, you know, monitoring this closely. It's fast-moving. But once we have our Board meeting and publish the Staff Report, of course we'll, we'll have a full, we'll have the full set of macroeconomic assumptions for you.

I think what I can also add is that there has been -- it has been the case that the economy after four years of war has settled into a slower growth path with a larger fiscal deficit and a larger current account deficit. As of January, of this year, the 5 million Ukrainian refugees remain in Europe, and 3.7 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced.

And then maybe on the question about the tax requirements, what I can say is, as I noted, the authorities have met all of the prior actions needed to move forward with the program request. These include the submission to Parliament on January 19th of a draft law on the Labor Code, as well as the adoption in December of the 2026 budget consistent with the program's objectives. And when we look forward, we will, of course, you know, as part of the program and as part of the documents that will be published, you know, after the Board meeting, they will lay out, of course, the near-term conditionality, which you know, which will help support the program going forward. So, I would say hold this space, and we'll have more information for you when the report is published.

Okay, let's move on.

QUESTIONER: Thank you. So, three questions. First on India's budget presentation by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. How does IMF see this year's India's budget? Does it meet the growth targets of India? And secondly on Pakistan's economy I know IMF is helping a lot into Pakistan to come out of its financial crisis. Is it making progress in meeting IMF standards? And third one, about the AI Summit in India. How does IMF views India's development in the field of AI? Thank you.

MS. KOZACK: Okay. So, any other questions on India or Pakistan? Does anyone online want to come in on India or Pakistan? We have questions on both of those. Okay. If not. So let me start with the budget. Well, maybe let me just start with where we are on India's economy.

So, I think, as we've been saying for quite some time, India is a key engine for global growth. The economy has performed well. We've upgraded our growth projection in the January World Economic Outlook. Real GDP growth for fiscal year 2025-2026 is projected at 7.3 percent, and that's significantly higher than what we had projected earlier -- earlier on. So, it was a significant upgrade for India.

With respect to your question on the budget, what I can say is that we welcome the budget's continued focus on gradual fiscal consolidation while maintaining critical capital expenditure in India, both the central government and states, we're encouraging them to continue to focus on a medium-term fiscal consolidation path, and that will enable India to rebuild fiscal buffers and ensure that resources, which right now are a bit tied up on debt servicing, that they can then be reallocated for other priority spending over time in India.

And then, maybe sticking with India on the AI Summit. Of course, our Managing Director is delighted to be participating in the AI Summit. She delivered remarks at the Summit earlier today. As you know, she's very much looking forward in the AI Summit to engaging with Indian entrepreneurs, the tech industry, and the Indian authorities to really hear from them on India's great progress and promise in the field of AI. And I would just refer you to the remarks that she made, which are now published and available on our website.

Now, turning to your question on Pakistan. So, on Pakistan, we do have a program, as you noted, we have an EFF arrangement. We do have a Staff team that is expected to visit Pakistan starting February 25th for discussions on the Third Review under the EFF and the Second Review under the RSF.

Pakistan's policy efforts under the EFF have helped stabilize the economy and rebuild confidence. I would say a few things. First, fiscal performance has been strong. Pakistan currently has a primary fiscal surplus of 1.3 percent of GDP in fiscal year 2025, which was in line with program targets. Headline inflation has been relatively contained. And Pakistan posted its first current account surplus in 14 years in fiscal year 2025.

And also, maybe just to highlight that the Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Report was recently published, and it includes proposals for reforms, including simplifying tax policy design, leveling the playing field for public procurement, and improving the asset declaration transparency. Thank you.

QUESTIONER: So, my question is if you could provide updates on Africa, the African nations. And I have two specific questions. One is on Nigeria. President Tinubu recently wrote an opinion that was published in the Financial Times. We, the Africa Bazaar, actually reported on something similar during the IMF Annual Meeting last year regarding a fairer financial system. And it echoes what President Ruto and others have also said, calling for a fairer global financial system, especially for African country. So, what is the IMF's view on this? And the Nigerian and Caribbean sign a trade corridor. If you could talk about what that means for both economies. Thank you.

MS. KOZACK: Okay. All right. So maybe let me just start with a little bit of an overview on kind of how we see the economic situation in Africa, and then I'll come to your specific questions.

So, what we've seen in Sub-Saharan Africa is that the growth outlook has been improving. Growth has been revised up to 4.6 percent in 2026. And this has been supported by some of the macroeconomic stabilization and reform efforts in key economies. That said, we do see divergences. We do see nine out of the 20 of the world's fastest-growing economies this year are in Africa. But we also see headwinds in conflict-affected countries, which, of course, are still struggling on the growth front and often on the humanitarian front as well. And with lower oil prices, some oil exporters are also facing headwinds.

So, we do see a bit of a divergent picture across Africa, with some very fast and dynamic, fast growing and dynamic economies and some economies which are still struggling.

On your question on the -- on the trade corridor, I don't have details on this specific one. But what I can say is that globally, what we're seeing is countries and regions showing interest in what we would say kind of bilateral or regional trade agreements, and still trading and looking for new ways to enhance trade and new connections. And so, I think this seems to be part of something that we're seeing more globally. We recently, the Managing Director was recently in Algeria, and we were attending, participating, and co-hosting a conference there about connecting Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and Europe, for example. So this is, I think, part of a broader global trend that seems to be emerging.

And then on your question on the global financial system, you know, I think what I can say there is that maybe just looking at financial conditions more generally, what we have seen in terms of global financial conditions is that they have been -- continue to be relatively accommodative. And what we've seen now, particularly for emerging and low-income countries, is that spreads have become compressed, they've come down, and we are seeing kind of a pickup in financing flows and the ability of particularly frontier and emerging markets to access capital markets again.

So, we do see overall the financing picture a bit -- a bit improving for some of these, for some countries. And of course, there's a much broader discussion, of course, on how to ensure that private capital, particularly, can move from countries where there's a lot of capital right now and maybe where societies are aging. Can that capital, as the Managing Director has said many times, can that capital move to the places in the world where we have young populations so that capital and kind of labor can be -- can be connected.

QUESTIONER: What about your view regarding the credit rating agencies? (inaudible) ... calls that there need to have more of a fairer rating for African nations because Africa, there's the "African premium" that has been paid right now.

MS. KOZACK: So, of course, we're aware of the discussions that are on, you know, that are taking place around the ratings agencies. But we are not a participant of those discussions.

MS. KOZACK: Let's move on. You had your hand up before.

QUESTIONER: I wanted to ask about the Article IV for the U.S.

There's been some estimates recently. We've had the CBO estimate that U.S. debt is going to be at 120 percent of GDP. I wondered if you could say a word about that. What do you think the main themes are? Looking forward to that discussion. And also, just today, we found out that the trade deficit in the U.S. has widened considerably despite the tariffs. And I wonder if you could shed a little bit of light on your, on the IMF's thinking about that. And how, you know, maybe also just a little bit, how those discussions are going. This is the first Article IV with the new administration. Thank you.

MS. KOZACK: Great, thanks. Any other question on the U.S.? Okay, go ahead.

QUESTIONER: Thanks, Julie. As a follow-up for the U.S. economy. So, how does the IMF right now assess the likelihood of large-scale dollar sell-off and dollar-denominated asset sell-off, and what impact could it have on the institutional investors and on private investors? So, what is overall your assessment of this trend of things?

MS. KOZACK: Okay, great. Any other questions on the U.S.?

Okay, so for the Article IV, as I said, we're going to be having a press conference next week. The mission is actually currently taking place, you know, as we speak. The mission will wrap up on the 25th, and at the end of the day, we'll be having the press conference, which will include the Managing Director and also the U.S. team. So, I'm going to leave it to them to discuss ultimately their findings from the Article IV mission, including on the issues that you've mentioned, including on how we see the debt trajectory, how we see the trade deficit and current account deficit evolving, and overall, how we see the economic prospects for the U.S. So, I would refer you to the press conference and I hope that you are able to make it.

QUESTIONER: When did the mission begin?

MS. KOZACK: The mission began -- let me see if I have the exact dates. Let's see. Do I have… I don't have the exact dates on me, but we can come back to you. Usually, the missions are somewhere between 10 days and two weeks, but we'll come back to you with the precise dates.

QUESTIONER: And the dollar question?

MS. KOZACK: On the dollar, I think what I can say on the dollar is we had a chapter in our external sector report, which was published over the summer. The chapter two, I think it was, chapter two of that report covered a little bit the international monetary system in general. So, I think what I can say on the dollar is that it remains, based on our analysis, the dollar remains central to the international monetary system. It continues to dominate trade invoicing, international reserves, international borrowing, and global payments. And in all of these areas, the share of the dollar is larger than the U.S share in global GDP.

The role of the dollar, we've assessed it to be broadly stable over time, with only a moderate decline in the share of the dollar in international reserves since the mid-2010s. So, if you look at our what we call COFER data, this gives you the currency composition of reserves. What we show is a stable share of around 58 to 59 percent since 2020. Stable share of the dollar. The dollar has depreciated from its peak in 2024. But the current level, when we look in a more historical context, the current level of the dollar against major currencies is close to its historical average over the past decade.

And with that, I think then just finally to maybe say that, you know, currency markets can be volatile, and it's, of course, important not to read too much into day-to-day movements in currencies. And that's what we've tried to do in this chapter in our External Sector Report. And of course, the Article IV report coming up will have a broader assessment of how we assess the dollar relative to medium-term economic and policy fundamentals, which will feed into the next ESR, External Sector Report.

QUESTIONER: Hi, good morning. Just a question on Lebanon. There were protests in the country this week after the government approved to raise value added tax and fuel prices to fund public sector salaries. What does the IMF make of these developments, particularly after they came after the Fund's most recent mission to Beirut?

MS. KOZACK: Thanks. Are there other questions on Lebanon?

QUESTIONER: Hi, yeah. Thanks, Julie. My question is also following the mission last week. I know the Fund has said that any contributions required by the state must not undermine efforts to restore public debt sustainability. I'm wondering if you can offer any more clarity on what level of contribution by the state the Fund sees as acceptable. I know that both the commercial banks in Lebanon and the Central Bank are putting some pressure on the state to contribute more than is required in the current draft of the financial capital.

MS. KOZACK: Okay. So on Lebanon, as you know, the authorities requested an IMF-supported program in March of 2025. We have had several missions to Beirut, including the most recent one. And the missions have been discussing a comprehensive reform program for Lebanon that could be supported with an IMF arrangement. The most recent mission was in early February. The discussions have been focused on two big issues. The first is the banking sector restructuring strategy, and the second is the medium-term fiscal strategy.

What I can also say is that the economy has shown resilience, despite the impact of conflicts in the region. It has had a bit of an economic rebound on the back of tourism from the strong diaspora. But at the same time, really restoring strong and sustainable growth will require a comprehensive set of reforms to tackle some of the structural weaknesses that have really hampered Lebanon's economic performance, you know, for many years. And this reform agenda is also needed to attract international support to help Lebanon address its substantial reconstruction needs.

On the fiscal side, what I can share with you now is that, you know, work is ongoing to develop this medium-term fiscal framework. It will need to contain concrete measures to mobilize additional revenues in order to create space to expand much-needed social and capital spending. The frame, this updated medium-term fiscal framework, will also need to underpin a sovereign debt restructuring, to restore debt sustainability, and to ultimately support the banking sector restructuring strategy.

So, I think the way maybe to answer both questions is that the discussions are continuing between the IMF and the Lebanese authorities. I don't have a lot of details to share on those discussions, but to say that the work is really focused on these two areas, the banking sector restructuring and the medium-term fiscal strategy, and a medium-term fiscal framework. And of course, as part of those discussions around the fiscal side, there are discussions around what is the appropriate way to raise revenue, what are the spending needs for the country, both on the social spending side, but also the capital spending side, because there are reconstruction and other needs.

And of course, part of that is also what, if any, support might be needed for the ultimate banking restructuring strategy that would be put in place. So, it's a very complex set of discussions because of the interaction between the fiscal side and the banking side. But those discussions are underway, and of course, we'll provide more details when we have them.

QUESTIONER: I would like to ask on Argentina, the last IMF Staff Report from July said that during the Second Review that is ongoing, while the mission was in Buenos Aires [Caracas], there were going to be discussions on a new methodology on inflation. The government has decided not to move forward with that methodology. How is the IMF addressing this? Is the IMF accepting that the authorities are not going to implement this new methodology, and how you're going to approach on that in the Second Review? I have another question on Venezuela, but I don't know if you want it now that we're on the region or you prefer to get other questions.

MS. KOZACK: Why don't you go ahead and ask the question on Venezuela?

QUESTIONER: Yes. So, on Venezuela, I would like to ask, even if there's not a recognition from the Executive Board, but the IMF members on Venezuela that are having relationships or dealings with the country. Is there any way that IMF Staff can have a low engagement in order to discuss with country authorities on how to re-engage and how to, for example, address technical level discussions such as reconstruction of statistics and official data? Thank you.

MS. KOZACK: Very good. Okay, so I know we're going to have more on Argentina online. Argentina or Venezuela? Venezuela. Okay, let's start with Venezuela, then. And then we'll go to Argentina.

QUESTIONER: Thanks, Julie. So last month, as I remember, you stated that Venezuela could have access to the frozen IMF fund's assets when contacts between Caracas and the Fund revived. So, could you please update us on this matter and tell us what is the current status of communications between the IMF and the Venezuelan government? And the last but not the least, what is the IMF's view on the Venezuelan economy right now? How is it developing from your point of view? Thanks.

QUESTIONER: Thank you. Related to that, Secretary Bessent, Treasury Secretary, said last month that he would be meeting with IMF and World Bank officials specifically about Venezuela and the possibility of utilizing some of those frozen assets for economic rebuilding. If you could just update us on the status of those conversations.

MS. KOZACK: Okay, good. All right, let's go online. Anything on Venezuela, and then I'll turn to Argentina. Okay, I don't see anyone on Venezuela.

QUESTIONER: Hi. Good morning, Julie. Thank you for taking my question. Can you anticipate some of the considerations made by the technical mission that was in Buenos Aires which in recent weeks? And my second question is, January inflation came in at 2.9 percent, rising for the fifth consecutive month. Are you concerned about this?

QUESTIONER: I had two questions. One is almost 22,000 companies have closed in the last two years. Does the IMF maintain their growth projections for Argentina? And the other one was also about the mission that was in Buenos Aires. When will the Board meeting that will decide if it was approved?

QUESTIONER: Thank you for taking my question. It's about the labor reform vote. Argentina labor reform bill is currently under debate in the Chamber of Deputies. From the IMF's perspective, how relevant is the approval of this legislation for the program's medium-term objectives, particularly in terms of formal employment, productivity, and competitiveness?

And in the context of the Article IV Consultation, how do you assess Argentina current growth dynamics, given that expansion has been driven mainly by sectors such as energy and mining, while industry and retail trade remains weak and formal salary employment continues to decline in Argentina?

And for the mission outcome, what were the concrete outcomes of the technical mission that visited Buenos Aires last week? What is the current status of the Second Review of the last, of the actual program with Argentina? And what are the next step and expected timeline regarding in the 2026 reserves accumulation target? Does it remain unchanged under the program, or is a revision under consideration? Thank you.

MS. KOZACK: Okay, thank you.

QUESTIONER: Good morning, Julie. I have a little follow-up on the labor reform. If the IMF (inaudible), the labor form on taxes or pension systems are expected to be discussed this year. And the second question the IMF does have any protection over the -- to Argentina to international capital market (inaudible) in the last month (inaudible). Thank you.

MS. KOZACK: Okay. We had a little bit of trouble hearing you, so I'm going to try to answer your question based on what I think I heard.

QUESTIONER: So same question as my colleagues. Could you provide any comments on the cancellation by the government of Javier Milei of the Consumer Price Index by the INDEC, since it's openly violating the agreement with the IMF itself, signed last August?

MS. KOZACK: Okay, thanks. All right, so let me take these questions on Argentina.

So, first to start to say that IMF Staff held very good discussions with the Argentine authorities during the recent mission for the Second Review under the EFF and the 2026 Article IV Consultation. So, it was a mission looking at both. These discussions are continuing, and they're taking place in the context of a broad reform agenda that's being advanced by the authorities. This reform agenda is aimed at consolidating the impressive stabilization gains that Argentina has made so far, while also strengthening the foundations for durable growth.

Maybe to also add that since the start of the year, we've seen very important steps taken to strengthen confidence and external stability in Argentina. We're especially encouraged by the recent refinements to the monetary and FX regime and the consistent daily purchases of foreign currency to meet Argentina's debt obligations and to rebuild its reserve buffers.

Since the start of the year, the Central Bank has purchased over $2 billion in foreign currency, and as we've said before, sustained reserve accumulation, supported by continued implementation of the zero balance fiscal anchor, will be essential to secure durable market access and allow Argentina to better address shocks.

In addition, efforts to deepen structural reforms in Argentina are continuing. There have been labor market measures aimed at reducing informality of the labor market, but also, very importantly, to support job creation. These measures are currently being debated in Congress. We also welcome the steps being taken to open Argentina's economy to trade and to attract investment into the economy, including progress on trade agreements with the United States and the European Union, the latter under Mercosur. Properly mitigating, of course, the transition costs associated with these reforms is also going to be important for Argentina.

Discussions on the Second Review of the program and the Article IV Consultation are continuing. So, we'll provide more updates as those discussions progress. As is the standard practice, the next step would be under the program for these discussions to continue and then ultimately wrap up. Once a Staff-Level Agreement is reached, our team will then prepare the documentation and submit it to the Executive Board. So right now, we're still in the discussion phase and will come to the Board meeting in due course.

And finally, regarding the questions on the statistics issue, what I can say right now is that we're deeply engaged with the authorities on their efforts to continue to safeguard the quality, accuracy, and transparency of Argentina's statistical systems. In our discussions with the Argentine authorities, we've agreed that having timely, credible, and high quality and impartial data is essential for sound policymaking and public trust.

And let me now turn to the questions on Venezuela. With respect to Venezuela, we're continuing to closely monitor developments in Venezuela despite significant informational gaps. Since 2019, our dealings with Venezuela have been paused due to government recognition issues. So, in cases like this, where we have government recognition issues, we are guided by the views of the international community and our membership, as represented by a majority of voting power of IMF members. And this is the approach that we are following when deciding whether to resume engagement with Venezuela.

With respect to Venezuela's economy, Venezuela is undergoing a severe and prolonged economic and humanitarian crisis. Since 2014, roughly 8 million people - it's about a quarter of the population - have left the country. Socioeconomic conditions remain very difficult. Poverty is high, inequality is high, and there is widespread shortages of basic services. The situation overall is quite fragile.

Inflation is estimated to be in the triple digits in Venezuela, and we're observing now a rapid depreciation of the currency. Venezuela's public debt, we estimate it, based on the information we have, at 180 percent of GDP in 2024. That's before any judgments or arbitration because the debt is largely in default.

Now, with respect to the question on how we may engage. So when our dealings with countries are paused, the Fund cannot conduct surveillance, meaning Article IV Consultations, or provide capacity development or provide financial assistance to members when we've paused dealings. But we can have low-level engagement such as fact-finding interactions, something like that would be permissible under our rules and practices.

And with respect to the question about the MD's interactions with Secretary Bessent, they do meet regularly to discuss a wide range of matters, policy matters, and country matters. And so they of course would discuss Venezuela as part of that.

QUESTIONER: Sorry, a follow-up. Is this low-level engagement occurring right now with Venezuela? Can you confirm that?

MS. KOZACK: First, I should say that any engagement would come at the request of the authorities. And from our perspective, we are still gathering information and facts around what would be the best way to pursue a line of engagement, should that low-level technical engagement be something that the authorities express interest in.

Okay. We're almost out of time, but I'll take maybe one or two questions from online.

QUESTIONER: Thank you very much. Just a quick question on MD's visit to Japan. During the visit, is there any opportunity that MD could conduct press conference or other such opportunity? And the second one is the visit related to Article IV, which IMF published recently in a statement.

MS. KOZACK: Thank you, very good. Just to clarify. So you're asking about the MD's visit to Japan?

So, the MD, as I said, will be visiting Japan in March. The main purpose of her visit is to attend the symposium where she will deliver keynote remarks. She will also, of course, take the opportunity to have high-level meetings with the Japanese authorities, and she will do some broader engagement with the business community and others in Japan. We're still putting together precisely her schedule, and so we can provide more information as the time comes.

I can also clarify the visit is not related to the Article IV Consultation. So, on the Article IV Consultation with Japan, we had two days ago a press conference after releasing the concluding statement for Japan. We will now proceed to the next step, which will be to have a Board meeting followed by publication of the Staff Report. But the MD's visit is distinct from that process. It's really to focus on this symposium and meetings with the authorities and other key stakeholders, and we'll provide more information when we have it.

Let me now go online. I know you have a question on Egypt. Since we are running short of time, what I'm going to do is I'm going to take this last question on Egypt and any other questions that we have on Egypt. And then I know there's a number of others online who have been waiting. So, we will respond to you. We will come back to you bilaterally with responses to your questions.

QUESTIONER: Good morning, Julie and my colleagues. Thank you so much for taking my question. My question is: As we anticipate the IMF meeting on Egypt next week on Wednesday, specifically, how does the IMF see the procedures Egypt has taken recently regarding launching new package for supporting the vulnerabilities, the abolition of one of the main ministerial portfolios that is responsible for the state-owned companies, and also the reshuffle that has been taken. To what extent these procedures are accelerating the process of the completion of the three reviews, the two of the EFF and the one of the RSF? Thank you, Julie.

MS. KOZACK: Any other questions on Egypt, or including online? Does anyone online want to come in on Egypt?

All right, so on Egypt, as you mentioned, we will be having on February 25th the Board meeting for the combined Fifth and Sixth Reviews under the EFF, subject to approval by our Executive Board. This would allow for a disbursement of U.S. $2.3 billion. It would be U.S. $2 billion under the EFF and around close to U.S. $300 million under the RSF.

Now, with respect to your specific questions. On the Ministry of Public Sector Enterprises, what I can say here is that the authorities have indicated that they intend to eliminate or close the Ministry of Public Sector Enterprises. This is part of a broader strategy to restructure state-owned enterprises and enhance the efficiency and the value added or value of public assets. The authorities have highlighted that this is intended to streamline oversight, strengthen governance frameworks, and also improve resource allocation within the public sector.

And then on your question on social safety nets, what I can say is that in early 2025, the authorities announced a social protection package which included an increase in the minimum wage and pensions, support to teachers and healthcare workers, and support for what they call irregular workers. And similarly, just recently, in February 2026, they announced a package to support low-income and vulnerable households through temporary cash transfers during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. They also announced that they will accelerate some rural development projects and expand health care support.

Given the significant impact that inflation has had on the purchasing power, specifically of low and middle-income households in Egypt, at the IMF we support targeted assistance for vulnerable households and particularly considering that they receive relatively low levels of social support in Egypt compared with other countries.

And so, with this, I am going to bring this press conference to a close. Thank you all very much for your participation today.

As a reminder, the Press Briefing is embargoed until 11 a.m. Eastern Time in the U.S. As always, a transcript will be made available later today on IMF.org. And as I already noted, if we did not have time to get to your questions, and I know there were quite some questions that we did not have time to get to, please reach out to the media [email protected] or via the Press Center, and we will follow up with you bilaterally.

Thank you so much, and wishing you all a wonderful rest of your day.

* * * * *

IMF Communications Department

MEDIA RELATIONS

PRESS OFFICER: Mayada Ghazala

Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: [email protected]

@IMFSpokesperson