Egypt Daily News – Egypt is required to repay 725 million dollars to the International Monetary Fund during the current month of May, while awaiting the arrival of an IMF mission to Cairo to begin the fifth review of the economic reform program.
The Egyptian government has repaid approximately 1.56 billion dollars to the IMF in the first four months of this year, and around 962.5 million dollars are due to be paid in June. The IMF is expected to begin the fifth review of the 8 billion dollar-funded economic reform program in the near future.
According to informed sources, a smaller IMF mission is likely to arrive in Cairo this week to assess some data and indicators, in preparation for another mission that will stay for two weeks to prepare its report to be released later.
The Egyptian Ministry of Finance is expected to present its report on the latest developments in the economic reform program and the draft budget for the next fiscal year, in addition to the drafts of the country’s tax policy and public debt documents.
The government expects to receive 1.3 billion dollars once the fifth review is completed, and while there has been no specific timeline announced yet, the next tranche is expected to be disbursed in June.
At the beginning of last month, the IMF approved the disbursement of the fourth tranche of Egypt’s loan, worth 1.2 billion dollars, after the IMF Executive Board approved the results of the fourth review of the economic reform program. This came after Egypt and the IMF agreed in March 2024 to increase the program size from 3 to 8 billion dollars.
The IMF has projected that Egypt’s foreign exchange reserves will rise over the next five years, reaching 73 billion dollars, compared to 44.9 billion dollars in the current fiscal year.
