CAIRO (Sputnik) – In August, the IMF and Egypt reached a staff-level loan agreement for the $12 billion to be dispersed through the fund's Extended Fund Facility to help with the country's foreign exchange problems, economic reforms and the budget deficit over the next three years.
“[Cairo and the IMF] are discussing the last details of the forthcoming agreement,” Ismail said in an interview the Egyptian CBC broadcaster, adding that the agreement is likely to be signed by the end of the year.
Egypt’s economic growth has been undermined by five years of political turmoil since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising against long-standing Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak. The national economy is suffering a severe shortage of foreign currency caused mainly because of the blow to its tourist sector from the downing of a Russian airliner over the Sinai Peninsula in October 2015.
In the recent months, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait provided Egypt with considerable assistance through committing to investment projects and making deposits of some $20 billion.
