IMF
Approves $5bn Increase To Egypt Loan.
Egypt has signed a deal with the International Monetary
Fund to increase an initial $3 billion loan package to $8 billion.
The agreement, announced by Egyptian Prime Minister
Mostafa Madbouly and the IMF’s mission chief for Egypt, Ivanna Vladkova Hollar,
came hours after the country’s central bank hiked interest rates and said it
was floating the pound.
By the time the markets closed on Wednesday, the Egyptian
pound was trading at a record low of around 50 pounds to the US dollar, after
more than a year of a stabilized official exchange rate of around 30.9 against
the greenback.
Hollar welcomed Egypt’s measures as decisive steps to
move to a flexible exchange rate system, starting with unifying the exchange
rate between the official and parallel market rates.”
She also said the move would help increase the supply of
foreign currency, after months of severe shortages that caused a surge in the
parallel market rate and raised fears Cairo would be unable to service its
massive foreign debt bill.
Sign up and receive the latest tips via email.
