Cairo – Mubasher: The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has scheduled a meeting on Egypt on 16 December 2022 as the Arab world’s most populous nation awaits final approval for a $3 billion loan deal.
On 5 December, the Egyptian Finance Minister, Mohamed Maait, said his country hopes to obtain the first tranche of the IMF loan valued at $750 million this month.
The IMF estimates the financing gap over four years, the duration of the programme, at $16 billion, equivalent to $4 billion per year.
In October 2022, the IMF staff and the Egyptian authorities reached a staff-level agreement on comprehensive economic policies and reforms to be supported by a 46-month extended fund facility (EFF) arrangement of $3 billion.
The IMF arrangement is forecast to catalyse a large multi-year financing package, including about $5 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2022/2023.
Moreover, Egyptian authorities requested financing under the newly created Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), which could unlock up to an additional $1 billion for Egypt.
In FY21/22, the Egyptian economy grew faster than expected by 6.60%, compared to 3.30% in the previous year. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded the IMF’s expectations and grew by 5.90%, the highest rate since 2008.
During FY22/23, the Egyptian government forecasts the GDP to increase by 5.50%.
