Egypt likely to receive new tranche of IMF loan after second review

CAIRO - 13 October 2017: Egypt is expected to receive the third tranche of USD 2 billion of the three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan after a second review, due later this month or early next month, Minister of Finance Amr el Garhy said on Thursday.

In an interview the CNBC Arabiya TV channel, el Garhy said his current visit to Washington is meant to meet a number of IMF officials to discuss the latest developments regarding Egypt's economic reform program as well as the agenda of the IMF delegation's visit to Cairo later in October.

The minister stressed that Cairo is moving steadily in implementing the reform program, pointing out that the Egyptian leadership supports such reforms.

El Garhy hailed the Egyptian people for being aware of the reforms necessity, stressing that the government adopted good social protection programs.

Egypt secured dlrs 12 billion, a three-year bailout loan in November, to support its economic reform program. A tough set of economic measures were required to qualify Egypt to get the loan, including reducing subsidies, enacting the value-added tax, as well as the devaluation of its local currency.