The next review for Egypt's three-year, $12 billion International Monetary Fund lending programme will be in either November or December, Egyptian Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy told Reuters on Thursday. Egypt received the first funding installment from the programme in November, an initial disbursal of $2.75 billion. The IMF conducted its first review of Egypt's progress on economic reform last month and said it had reached a staff-level agreement to make available about $1.25 billion, which would complete the first tranche of the loan programme. The IMF at the time described the agreement as "a vote of confidence by the IMF staff" in Egypt's reform process, which the fund said was "off to a good start." Garhy said on Thursday that Egypt is expected to receive the $1.25 billion payment this month. He said Egypt expects to receive the second $4 billion tranche in two instalments during the 2017-18 fiscal year, which begins in July. In mid-August 2016, Egypt reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF over the $12 billion loan to endorse the country's fiscal reform programme, which the government embarked on in 2014 in an attempt to curb the growing state budget deficit -- estimated at 12.2 percent of GDP in 2015/16.
