Egypt has reached a staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund for an instalment of around $2 billion in its three-year, $12 billion loan programme.

The agreement is pending approval by the IMF executive board..

An IMF delegation visited Egypt from 25 October to 9 November to assess the progress of the loan programme, which was finalised in November 2016.

The IMF loan comes in support of Egypt’s financial reform programme, which aims to curb the growing state budget deficit and has included floating the Egyptian pound.

The IMF praised the commitment of the Egyptian government to the reform programme, referring to the rise in Egypt’s GDP to 4.2 percent in fiscal year 2016/17, compared to a projected 3.5 percent.

The IMF also praised the increasing confidence of investors, adding that the portfolio investments into Egypt reached $16 billion this year and foreign direct investment rose by 13 percent.

In July, Egypt received the final instalment of the first $4 billion tranche of the IMF loan. (Amwal Al Ghad).

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews