IMF schedules Egypt’s $3 bln loan meeting on 16 December

During the meeting, the IMF is expected to approve a $3 billion loan for Egypt under the fund’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

A preliminary staff-level agreement between Egypt and the fund was reached in October to back the country’s new economic reform programme meant to address the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

In November, Egypt downgraded its projections for its real GDP growth for the second time since the onset of the war in Ukraine to five percent in current FY2022/2023, down from 5.5 percent expected in March, when the war broke out.

The IMF’s new loan for Egypt is a part of a total of $9 billion financing Egypt is anticipated to obtain from international and regional development partners, with additional financing of about $6 billion expected from those partners for the current FY2022/2023, which is predicted to strengthen Egypt’s external position amid the ongoing challenges.

On Monday, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait stated that Egypt hopes to receive the first tranche of the 46-month programme loan in December with a value of $750 million.

By securing this loan, Egypt will have obtained a total of over $23 billion in loans from the IMF over the past seven years.