IMF to announce dates of Egypt’s reviews by end of October: Maait

Ahram Online , Sunday 15 Oct 2023

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will announce the dates for the first and second reviews of Egypt’s economic reform programme by the end of October, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait stated on Saturday.

Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait.
Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait. Ahram Gate.

 

The Egyptian government is committed to adopting a flexible exchange rate system, Maait said in an interview with Al-Arabiya News.

Egypt is engaged in a four-year, $3 billion loan programme with the IMF. Under this programme, the country has to fulfil a series of economic reforms, including applying a privatization programme to sell 35 state-owned companies and liberate the exchange rate of the pound.

With a total external debt of $165.3 billion, Egypt has to pay $71.6 billion in debt service in the coming three years, including $29.23 billion in 2024.

Egypt’s foreign assets deficit amounted to nearly $25.92 billion in August. The country seeks to collect $191 billion in annual US dollar revenues by 2026.

More Pandas and Samurai
 

Maait said that Egypt has a financial gap ranging between $6 and $8 billion for FY2023/2024.

This gap can be narrowed by issuing samurai and panda bonds, in addition to guaranteed financing from banks, the minister added.

He also noted that Egypt will issue samurai and panda bonds within the coming eight weeks.

Egypt is seeking to issue $500 billion yuan-denominated green bonds (panda bonds) in the coming period after issuing a second batch of $500 million yen-denominated bonds (samurai bonds) in August. 

In July, Maait stated that Egypt aims by the end of 2023 to secure $3 billion in financing from several external markets to bridge its financing gap.

 

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