Egypt's Meeting with IMF Scheduled for Dec. 16

The list of official meetings of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) included a meeting with Egypt on December 16.

Last November, the Director of the IMF  Kristalina Georgieva confirmed during a discussion of the new program that Egypt had reached with the fund, at a value of $3 billion, that Egypt had obtained a soft payment plan.

Earlier, the Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said that Egypt may receive the first tranche of its new loan before the end of the year, adding that the procedures for obtaining the loan have not been completed yet.

He pointed out that the IMF estimates the financing gap for Egypt over 4 years, the duration of the program, is about $16 billion, or $4 billion each year.

Last October, Egypt succeeded in reaching an expert-level agreement with the IMF, according to which the country would obtain a $3 billion loan. The IMF Board of Directors is scheduled to discuss the agreement during December for approval.

The agreement also included Egypt obtaining additional financing of $1 billion through the newly established IMF Resilience and Sustainability Fund, with a financing package from international bodies and institutions estimated at $5 billion.