Egypt expects second installment of IMF loan in June

CAIRO – Egypt expects to receive a second installment, worth $1.2 billion, of a three-year International Monetary Fund loan in the second half of June.

Finance Minister Amr el-Garhy announced at a press conference Sunday that negotiations with the IMF delegation, which is visiting Egypt, are going “very well.”

The delegation arrived in Cairo late April and is set to stay until May 11 to review Egypt’s progress in its economic reform program.

Egypt secured the $12-billion, three-year bailout loan in November to support the program. A tough set of economic measures were required to qualify for it, including reducing subsidies, enacting the value-added tax, as well as the devaluation and subsequent floatation of its local currency.

A first installment of $2.75 billion dollars has been paid out already.