Egypt signs $8 billion loan agreement with IMF

CAIRO

Egypt said Wednesday it has signed an expanded $8 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Cairo signed a $3 billion loan deal with the IMF in December 2022 to shore up its economy, but the two sides agreed to increase the package to $8 billion.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said the deal with the IMF was part of structural reform policies for the country’s economy.

"This program is Egyptian and was prepared by the government and the Central Bank of Egypt," he added during a press conference with the head of the IMF mission, Ivanna Vladkova Hollar.

The loan deal was announced hours after the central bank devalued the Egyptian pound and raised interest rates by six points.

Hollar welcomed Egypt's measures as "decisive steps to move to a flexible exchange rate system, starting with unifying the exchange rate between the official and parallel market rates."

The move would "help increase the supply of foreign currency," she added.

Egypt's foreign currency revenues were affected by a decline in tourist inflows amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip and tensions in the Red Sea, which impacted navigation through the strategic Suez Canal, a main source of foreign currency for the Arab country.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio