The IMF announced an initial deal over its latest program reviews for Egypt, paving the way to unlocking $2.5 billion in funding to the country as it pushes to liberalize its economy.
Caught in one of its worst economic crises in history, Egypt secured an expanded $8 billion package over nearly four years from the International Monetary Fund in March last year, contingent on a series of economic reforms.
And in March this year, the global lender approved a new loan worth $1.3 billion for Egypt.
The IMF on Monday said it “reached staff level agreement on the fifth and sixth reviews under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement and the first review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF)”.
“Stabilization efforts have delivered important gains and the Egyptian economy is showing signs of robust growth,” IMF mission chief Ivanna Vladkova Hollar said.
“Going forward, efforts to reduce the role of the state need to be accelerated,” she added.
If approved by the IMF executive board, some $2.5 billion of financing will be unlocked from the $8 billion expanded loan, as well the $1.3 billion from the deal concluded this year.
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© Agence France-Presse
