IMF says its yet to agree date with Egypt to begin programme review

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt and the International Monetary Fund have yet to agree on a date for the initial review under a $3 billion financial package signed in December, an IMF official said on Thursday.

The IMF in December approved a $3 billion Extended Fund Facility loan for Egypt, which has been under acute financial pressure since long-standing problems were exposed by the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine.

Disbursements under the 46-month programme are subject to eight reviews, the first of which was dated March 15, 2023, in an IMF staff report published in December.

“We are in regular dialogue with authorities in order to prepare for the first review and the first review preparations have started and when we and the authorities are ready we will announce the date of the first review,” Jihad Azour, director of the IMFs Middle East and Central Asia Department, told a news conference.

(Reporting by Sarah El Safty and Patrick Werr; Editing by Alison Williams, William Maclean)