Ahmad 
The International Monetary Fund announced today an indefinite postponement of approval to disburse the third tranche of the loan provided to Egypt, estimated at $820 million, within the overall agreement worth $8 billion.
The latest updates from the Fund’s Executive Board showed that Egypt was temporarily excluded from the list of meetings scheduled until the end of this month, without providing precise details about the reasons for this postponement.
IMF spokeswoman Julie Kozak indicated in previous statements that the delay is due to the need to finalize some details of the agreed-upon policies, stressing that such delays are common in light of difficult economic conditions and are not exceptional.
It is noteworthy that Egypt continues to implement the economic reform program required by the Fund, which is considered a positive step towards restoring financial stability in the country.
Egypt had signed an expanded agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase the value of the current loan program to $8 billion. This agreement came after the original value of the loan was $3 billion and was reached in December 2022 under the Extended Credit Facility (EFF) program.
The original terms of the agreement included a more flexible exchange rate regime, but delays in implementing some reforms hampered progress on the program.
Egypt also secured a $1.2 billion loan from the IMF’s Sustainability and Resilience Fund to support environmentally sustainable growth, and a massive $35 billion investment deal with the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund (ADQ) helped ease financial pressures in the short term.
Egypt decided to increase spending on health and education in next year’s fiscal budget