Egypt’s next IMF tranche in doubt amid slow reforms

Three sources informed Al-Masry Al-Youm that an IMF mission arrived in Cairo last May to begin the fifth review of the 46-month, eight billion dollar financing program.

However, there has been no announcement yet of positive results or a timeline for the new tranche’s disbursement.

This follows after the approval of the fourth review last March, which allowed Egypt to receive a $1.2 billion installment, bringing the total disbursed amount of the loan to approximately $3.5 billion, according to Reuters estimates.

Sources indicated that the primary reason for the delay in the fifth review is the IMF’s dissatisfaction with the Egyptian government’s performance concerning structural reforms.

Chief among these are the divestment from state-owned assets and the expansion of the tax base, reforms that form the core of the agreement with the Fund.

According to one source, Egypt failed to meet half of the structural benchmarks during the last two reviews, despite relatively acceptable progress in fiscal reforms.