Egypt Receives $2 bln Final Tranche of IMF Loan

Egypt has received the $2 billion final tranche of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), completing a $12 billion loan package, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said on Monday.

He added that the final batch of the IMF loan will be used to support the state budget and will have positive repercussions on foreign reserves.

Maait pointed out that Egypt is a member of the IMF, stressing that the government, during the coming period, will focus on developing a program of structural reform, increasing sustainable growth rates and reform of sectors that support domestic industry and increase Egyptian exports to all world's countries.

The minister explained that the structural reform program aims to identify all challenges that hinder the state’s economy through preparing new legislative, legal, executive frameworks in order to continue reforms and successes, under which, Egypt has obtained the IMF’s 12 billion dollar-loan.

According to government sources, Egypt’s foreign reserves are expected to rise to more than $46 billion at the end of June 2019.

Maait added that the loan tranche is being converted into Egyptian pounds to the accounts of the Finance Ministry to strengthen the general budget after the CBE receives it in US dollars.

In November 2016, the Executive Board of the IMF approved a $12 billion loan as a financial assistance to Egypt to support the Egyptian economic reform program.

The loan program is conditioned by a large-scale reform, aimed at restoring Egypt's macroeconomic stability and sustainable growth.

Upon the board's approval in November, Egypt embarked on a bold economic reform program that included floating its currency, losing around 50 percent of its value, as part of the economic reform program which imposed taxes, including the value-added tax (VAT), and cut energy subsidies, all with the aim of trimming the budget deficit.