Economy

Egypt targets new $3bn funding despite IMF loan

By Pramod Kumar

January 6, 2025, 10:52 AM

Finance minister Ahmed Kouchouk said Egypt expects to receive $1.2bn from the IMF this month

$3bn from diverse sources
June target date
$1.2bn from IMF due

Egypt aims to raise nearly $3 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, which ends in June 2025, finance minister Ahmed Kouchouk has said.

The funding will be secured through diverse issuances, Reuters reported, citing an interview with Kouchouk on ONtv, an Arabic-language channel.

Kouchouk said Egypt expects to receive $1.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month.

Last month, the IMF reached a staff-level agreement on the fourth review of the extended fund facility arrangement worth $8 billion.

“The IMF board will convene in January, and we will receive the amount in January,” the minister said, adding that Cairo had not sought an increase to the $8 billion loan.

Egypt initially signed a $3 billion, 46-month extended fund facility agreement with the IMF in December 2022.

Despite Egypt facing headwinds from the challenging external environment, the government has agreed to speed up efforts on the divestment programme to reduce the high debt burden.

The Central Bank of Egypt also reiterated its commitment to sustain a flexible exchange rate regime to buffer the economy from external shocks and maintain tight monetary conditions to further reduce inflationary pressures, IMF mission chief for Egypt Ivanna Vladkova Hollar said.

Last month, Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said the canal revenue, one of Egypt’s main sources of income, was down 60 percent, or $7 billion, year on year in 2024 due to ongoing instability in the Red Sea disrupting global shipping traffic.