Egyptian economic and financial delegation in Washington for IMF talks: What do we know so far?

The delegation includes Hassan Abdullah, the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) governor and Egypt’s governor at the IMF, Mohamed Maait, the finance minister and Egypt’s sub-governor at the IMF, and Rania Al-Mashat, international cooperation minister.

The visit could also include a meeting with the World Bank Group’s officials for leveraging more finances directed mainly to the private sector and following up on the progress made so far regarding the IPO programme, as Egypt assigned the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s financial arm, as the technical advisor of the programme.

In December 2022, the IMF approved the EFF deal for Egypt and handed the first tranche to the country valued at $347 billion. Since then, the programme has not seen tangible progress with Egypt missing the first two reviews scheduled in March and September 2023.

The delegation will meet with the Secretary of the US Department of Treasury Janet Yellen and with the IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to leverage more finances for the country.

These meetings aim to explore if the Fund will facilitate a new loan programme for Egypt, along with the current $3 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) approved in December 2023, especially since the IMF has recently increased its member countries’ quota by 50 percent, sources very close to the ongoing discussions told Ahram Online.

The IMF is already discussing with the Egyptian side additional financing to ensure the successful implementation of the policy package for Egypt to help it navigate the implications of the war in Gaza, the IMF’s Spokesperson Julie Kozack told Ahram Online in the Fund’s regular press briefing held in December 2023.

Egypt is currently under severe economic pressure that could erode all its efforts to tackle the imbalances its budget, in particular, and its economy, in general, are witnessing especially with the eruption of the Israeli war in Gaza, while Egypt is an immediate country, the sources added.

They also expected the discussions to address Egypt’s request for rescheduling the current 46-month EFF loan agreement to conclude in 2028 instead of 2026.

According to the sources, Egypt will discuss the new strategy the government has drafted to tackle its economic challenging situation over six years (2024-2030), expecting Egypt to request new finance that covers implementing all the targets mentioned in the strategy till 2030.