Egypt to receive $1.2 bln from IMF in January
Kouchouk added that the IMF's executive board is also scheduled to meet in January.
In 2022, the IMF originally approved a $3 billion 46-month loan deal for Egypt under the fund’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
The 46-month IMF loan is set to conclude in September 2026.
The scheme aimed to boost Egypt’s economic growth and investments and enhance its social protection network. The country has struggled with high inflation and a foreign currency crunch.
In March 2024, Egypt agreed with the IMF to extend the loan to $8 billion.
The country received an initial $347 million when the IMF approved the loan in December 2022.
In 2024, It received approximately $1.64 billion from the IMF loan, divided into two instalments.
The first was disbursed in April, following two reviews postponed from March and September 2024 and the second was received in August after the third review.
Moreover, Minister Kouchouk clarified that Egypt has not sought to increase the existing $8 billion loan.
In response to a question about potential new bond offerings to foreign investors, Kouchouk stated the country aims to raise $3 billion during the remainder of the current fiscal year, ending in June.
He said the government would do so through diverse issuances to investors, but he did not provide further details.
No power outages in 2025
During the interview, Kouchouk also confirmed that no power cuts will be applied in 2025 and that electricity and fuel prices will remain unchanged for the next six months.
"We are committed to not cutting electricity in 2025," he said.
The minister also revealed that 7,000 megawatts of new energy will be added next summer, resulting in dollar savings in gas import operations.
A load-shedding programme, introduced in the summer of 2023, imposed two-hour rolling power cuts nationwide to ease grid pressure. High cooling demand during the summer months increased electricity consumption across the country.
Egypt generates electricity from burning natural gas. In July 2024, the government allocated $1.18 billion to import natural gas to address the power generation shortfall amid public uproar due to prolonged power cuts.
In addition, the minister indicated that initiatives to transition citizens to less costly energy sources will be launched in 2025. This includes a plan to transition cars to natural gas, with the government covering 70 percent of the costs.
Kouchouk’s remarks echoed a previous statement by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, who affirmed in October 2024 that fuel prices will not increase again until the end of 2025 as long as they remain stable at $73 per barrel.
Egypt raised fuel prices thrice in March, July, and October 2024.
Upcoming IPOs
According to Kouchouk, Egypt plans to launch three to four Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the first half of 2025, including two on the stock exchange and two for strategic investors.
Kouchouk also emphasized that the government's offering programme will proceed as planned.
“Regaining the business community's confidence in the tax and customs system and creating a real partnership is at the forefront of my priorities,” he stressed.
The IPO programme, launched in February 2023 under the State Ownership Policy Document, initially aimed to offer 35 governmental companies to investors to generate $5 billion in revenues.
The state has generated $3.1 billion in revenues from the IPO programme since March 2023, targeting $2 to $2.5 billion through FY2024/2025, Kouchouk noted in previous statements in August 2024.
This privatization programme is a crucial commitment of Egypt under the IMF loan.