Egypt Continues Consultations with IMF on Staff Level Agreement

Nader Saad, the Egyptian Cabinet spokesman announced that consultations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will continue in the coming weeks to reach an agreement at the level of experts between the two sides, allowing support for the Egyptian state's economic plans.

Saad said - in a press statement on Friday - that a delegation from the IMF held fruitful consultations and technical discussions with the Egyptian authorities to discuss a new program under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) mechanism with the aim of providing support to the Egyptian state to support its plans related to comprehensive national economic reform in a manner that ensures the stability of economic conditions.

The agreement also aims at increasing the role and contribution of the private sector in various aspects of economic activities, as well as increasing the role and contribution of the productive sectors and export activities. 

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team led by Céline Allard visited Cairo from June 26 to July 7 to discuss IMF support for the Egyptian authorities’ comprehensive economic reform program. At the end of the mission,  Allard issued the following statement:

“The IMF staff team and the Egyptian authorities had productive discussions on economic policies and reforms to be supported by an IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF). In the period ahead, we are continuing our close engagement with the authorities towards reaching staff level agreement.

As is always the case, final agreement on a program arrangement would be subject to approval of the IMF's Executive Board.

“The IMF team would like to thank the Egyptian authorities and the technical teams at the Central Bank of Egypt and the Ministry of Finance, and other interlocutors for their hospitality and the constructive and candid discussions.”