IMF reaches staff-level agreement on Egypt's fifth, sixth loan programme reviews

The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it had reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt on the fifth and sixth reviews under its Extended Fund Facility arrangement, potentially unlocking a roughly $2.5 billion disbursement under the programme.



The fund combined the fifth and sixth reviews of Egypt's support programme to give authorities more time to meet critical objectives embedded in it.



In a statement, the IMF also said it had reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of another ongoing fund programme, the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, which could potentially give Egypt access to an additional $1.3 billion.



The staff-level agreements must still be approved by the IMF's executive board.



Egypt agreed to the expanded $8 billion, 46-month loan in March 2024, at a time when it was grappling with high inflation and shortages of foreign currency.



In recent months, Egypt has managed ‌to tame inflation, which peaked at 38% in September 2023. Annual urban consumer inflation stood at 12.3% in November.