The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $12 billion loan for Egypt on Friday, in a move intended to stave off economic collapse in the Arab world's most populous nation as it grapples with a plunging currency, soaring inflation and shortages of staple foods. The first installment of the loan, $2.75 billion, was immediately disbursed. Tarek Amer, the governor of the central bank, confirmed that it had been received Friday. The rest will be paid out over three years. The first tranche of $2.75 billion can be disbursed immediately and will be added to the cash-strapped country's international reserves, the IMF said. S&P Global on Friday raised its outlook on Egypt's debt rating to stable from negative. The VanEck Vectors Egypt Index exchange-traded fund (EGPT) was one of the few developing-market ETFs on the rise Friday, thanks to an improving outlook for its sovereign bonds. shares of Commercial International Bank Egypt (CIBEY) rose 1.2% Friday, and were up nearly 18% for the week. With inflation a rising concern, S&P noted that Egypt's central bank last week raised its key overnight deposit and lending rates by 300 basis points, to 14.75% and 15.75%, respectively. The government floated the currency this month, and it lost nearly 50 percent of its value, wiping out savings and halving salaries. From a fixed exchange rate that had the Egyptian pound officially trading at 8.8 to the dollar, the pound has now been devalued to 16.7 against the dollar.
