IMF approves $3B extended credit facility for Egypt

CAIRO - 16 December 2022: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved, Friday, the extended credit facility worth $3 billion for Egypt.

Earlier in December, Egypt’s Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait, expressed his country’s hope to obtain the first installment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan of about $750 million during December.

The amount which is hoped to be received during the current month represents 25 percent of the total value of the financial support program that was recently approved by fund experts at an amount of $3 billion.

Egypt had reached an agreement with the IMF at the expert level in October, allowing the country to obtain an extended credit facility worth $3 billion, provided that this agreement is presented to the Board of Directors of the fund during December 2022 for approval.

The agreement program, which extends for four years, also allows Egypt to obtain additional financing of $1 billion through the newly established “Resilience and Sustainability Fund” by the International Monetary Fund, and an additional external financing package amounting to about $5 billion from several international and regional financing institutions with soft terms.

Maait added, during an economic conference held in Cairo, that the International Monetary Fund estimated the financing gap over 4 years, the duration of the program, at about $16 billion, or $4 billion each year.

Egypt has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund since March 2022 about possible support that could include a new loan, as shocks from the war in Ukraine add pressure on the country's economy.