IMF staff and the Egyptian authorities have held productive in-person discussions on the margins of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington and made substantial progress on all policies, according to a statement issued by the IMF.

Rice added that progress has been made on the fiscal policies as well as monetary and exchange rate policies as well as Egypt’s comprehensive structural reform agenda.

Egypt's Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, who is currently in Washington, said on Thursday in a media statement that negotiations between Egypt and the IMF over a new financing package are going well, noting that the two sides agreed on all aspects related to the package.

Since the start of the government's implementation of the IMF-backed economic reform programme in 2016, Egypt has secured three loans from the fund, including a $12 billion loan to execute the first wave of reforms (November 2016 – July 2019) under the Extended Fund Facility.

This was followed by two separate loans amounting to $8 billion in 2020 to tackle the harsh impacts of the pandemic under the IMF’s Rapid Finance Facility and Stand-By Arrangement.

So far, no details have been released on the size of the new loan.