Egypt expects to receive 5th tranche of IMF loan in Jan.

Central Bank of Egypt’s governor Tarek Amer said on Sunday the fifth tranche of a $12 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to be received in January 2019, Egyptian presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady said in a statement.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met on Sunday with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and central bank governor Tarek Amer, where the president stressed the necessity of continuing the implementation of the country’s economic reform programme and periodically evaluating the measures taken to ensure the achievement of targeted financial and economic goals.

Sisi said that pushing forward with the reforms will maintain the continuous improvement in economic indicators and increase the confidence of the international community in the Egyptian economy’s growth capabilities.

The president also stressed the necessity of structural reforms to maintain monetary and banking stability, as well as coordination between all the necessary bodies to reduce public debt and inflation.

The meeting also discussed recent developments in the economic reform programme, highlighting that foreign exchange flows have reached $163.5 billion over the past three years, as well as the rise in the resources of Egyptian banks from $ 8.3 billion to $88.5 billion since the devaluation of the pound in November 2016, despite the negative developments faced by emerging markets in the world during this period.

Amer also noted that the balance of payments during the first three months of financial year 2018/2019, from July to September, registered a surplus of about $1.5 billion, due to the increase in service revenues to $11.4 billion from $ 9.8 billion during the same period last year, in addition to a $1.1 billion increase in oil export revenues.

The CBE governor also reviewed during the meeting the establishing of a new printing house in the New Administrative Capital, as well the financial expectations for 2019.

In 2016, Egypt embarked on an economic reform programme backed with an extended fund facility from the IMF. Under the programme, a number of measures have been put in place, including imposing a value-added tax (VAT) and cutting energy and fuel subsidies with the aim of lowering the budget deficit.

Egypt received the first tranche of the IMF loan in November 2016.

Source: Ahram Online