The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday that it has reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt on the fifth and sixth reviews under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), which could allow the disbursement of $2.5 billion under the program.
اضافة اعلان
The IMF combined the fifth and sixth reviews of Egypt’s support program to give the authorities more time to achieve the core objectives embedded in the program.
In a statement, the Fund added that it has also reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of another existing financing arrangement—the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF)—which could enable Egypt to access additional financing of up to $1.3 billion.
Both agreements are still subject to approval by the IMF’s Executive Board.
In March 2024, Egypt reached an agreement on an $8 billion loan over 46 months, at a time when the country was grappling with high inflation and a shortage of foreign currency.
In recent months, Egypt has managed to rein in inflation, which peaked at 38% in September 2023. Annual urban inflation stood at 12.3% in November.
The severity of the country’s foreign currency shortage has eased, supported by the IMF loan program, record tourism revenues, remittances from Egyptians working abroad, and investment agreements with Gulf countries—including the United Arab Emirates—worth tens of billions of dollars.
IMF Mission Chief to Egypt Ivanna Vladkova Hollar said in a statement, “Stabilization efforts have delivered important gains, and the Egyptian economy is showing signs of strong growth.”
The IMF noted that structural reforms still need to be accelerated, including divestment from state-owned assets—one of the key pillars of the loan agreement—which the Fund said is progressing slowly.
In August, Egypt approved legislative amendments aimed at speeding up the sale of state-owned assets.
Looking ahead, Hollar said, efforts to reduce the role of the state should be intensified, including making significant additional progress on the divestment agenda and undertaking further measures to ensure a level playing field.
Reuters calculations show that the IMF has so far disbursed about $3.5 billion under the loan program.
