Cairo — Mubasher: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has postponed the disbursement of the fifth tranche, worth $2 billion, of Egypt’s $12 billion three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) to mid-January instead of this month, a senior government official said.
The source ascribed the postponement to the IMF’s intention to review some data, Enterprise reported on Monday.
He stressed that the Mostafa Madbouly-led cabinet is not in talks with the Washington-based fund to delay any part of its reform agenda.
The official denied a local media report published over the weekend that the Egyptian government was seeking to delay the implementation of economic reforms and not linking the fifth tranche payment to these measures.
The government is forging ahead with all measures it had previously agreed on with the IMF, including the lifting of fuel subsidies in June 2019, especially after the slippage of global oil prices, which are not projected to hike again over the coming months, Enterprise said, citing the government official.
The IMF's board is set to meet by the end of this month to consider the payment of the fifth tranche of the $12 billion loan agreement signed with Egypt in November 2016.
In mid-November, the IMF forecast Egypt’s economic growth to rise by nearly 5.5% in 2019 and by 5.3% this year.
