IMF board to meet on Egypt loan deal before March-end

The International Monetary Fund‘s executive board is expected to meet before the end of March to approve the staff-level agreement reached with the authorities in Egypt, said IMF Mission Chief for Egypt, Ivanna Vladkova Hollar on Wednesday.

The Washington-based lender announced earlier it had reached a staff-level agreement for the first and second reviews under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement. The agreement also included more than doubling IMF’s rescue programme for Egypt to $8 billion amidst significant macroeconomic challenges that have become more complex to manage with the impact of the recent war in Gaza on tourism and Suez Canal receipts.