The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the disbursement of the second tranche of the $12bn loan and $1.25bn will be transferred within days, according to Finance Minister Amr El Garhy. El Garhy added that he is currently coordinating with the IMF to transfer the funds to the accounts of the Central Bank of Egypt within days. He pointed out that the review committee of the economic reform programme for Egypt by the IMF has completed the evaluation of its procedures and submitted its report to the executive council of the IMF. The government has taken a number of reform decisions in its current budget, including increasing the prices of petroleum products and electricity, as well as increasing the interest rates on the deposit and lending rates by 2% to address inflation.
