The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Wednesday the completion of Egypt's $5.2 billion stand-by agreement (SBA) programme loan and the completion of the second and final review of the programme, which paves the way for the country to receive the third tranche of the loan worth $1.6 billion. The IMF said it will hold a virtual press conference on Monday with IMF mission chief Celine Allard. Following a 20-day mission, the IMF announced on 25 May that it had reached a staff-level agreement with the Egyptian authorities on the second and final review of the programme, which was submitted to the IMF's executive board for discussion. After receiving the IMF's executive board approval in June 2020, Egypt received the first tranche of $2 billion as an immediate disbursement and the second $1.6 billion tranche in January following the approval of the first review of the programme. The programme's main objectives included helping Egypt cope with the challenges posed by the coronavirus by meeting the country's balance of payment needs, reducing the budget deficit, maintaining the achievements made over the past four years under the country's economic reform programme, and providing finances for implementing Egypt's second wave of economic reforms. The SBA loan has helped Egypt replenish its international reserves that were severely hit by the pandemic, declining to $36 billion in March, down from $45.5 billion by the end of February 2020. In May 2020, Egypt filed for another loan under the rapid finance instrument (RFI) worth $2.7 billion to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, and received the sum in a one-off tranche. The total value of the two loans amounts to $8 billion.
