CAIRO, June 6 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), reached a deal to provide the Egyptian government with a 12-month credit agreement worth 5.2 billion U.S. dollars, to help Egypt deal with economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This agreement would be presented to the IMF Executive Board for final approval on the requested financing amount.
The agreement proves the continued confidence of international institutions, especially the IMF, in Egypt’s economic, monetary and financial policies, as well as its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
It will help preserve the gains Egypt has achieved in recent years, by implementing the economic reform programme.
On May 11, the IMF Executive Board approved Egypt’s request for emergency financial assistance of 2.772 billion dollars over the COVID-19 outbreak.
Prior to the COVID-19 shock, Egypt carried out a successful economic reform supported by the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility to correct large external and domestic imbalances.
Egypt announced its first confirmed COVID-19 case on Feb 14 and the first death from the highly infectious virus on Mar 8, both foreigners.
Until Friday night, Egypt’s total coronavirus cases reached 31,115, including 1,166 deaths and 8,158 recoveries.
In mid-Mar, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi allocated 100 billion Egyptian pounds (6.35 billion U.S. dollars) to finance an anti-coronavirus plan.
Since Mar 25, the Egyptian government has been imposing a nighttime curfew, which varied between nine and 13 hours, to curb the spread of the virus.
The current nine-hour curfew will continue until mid-June, when the government will consider easing restrictions amid a coexistence plan to maintain anti-coronavirus precautionary measures while resuming economic activities.– NNN-MENA
