IMF lowers Egypt's economic growth forecast for FY2024/25 by 0.3%

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed its forecast for Egypt's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 0.3% for both the previous and current fiscal years (FYs), according to July’s World Economic Outlook Report.

The global organization now expects Egypt's real GDP to hit 4.1% in FY 2024/2025 and 2.7% in FY 2023/2024.

Earlier this month, the IMF postponed discussing the disbursement of the $820 million third tranche of the loan to Egypt to July 29th, instead of at its scheduled meeting on July 10th.

This decision was made because certain conditions have not been met, Ivanna Vladkova Hollar, IMF Egypt Mission Chief and Division Chief at the Middle East and Central Asia department, said.

In June, the IMF and Egypt reached a staff-level agreement on economic policies and reforms for the third Extended Fund Facility (EFF) review, under which Egypt could access about $820 million.

On March 29th, the IMF’s Executive Board concluded the first and second reviews EFF deal with Egypt and approved an augmentation of the original loan program by $5 billion, as per the report.

Earlier this year, the IMF and Egyptian authorities had reached a significant agreement aimed at bolstering the country's economic outlook, extending IMF support to Egypt from $3 billion to $8 billion.

On December 16th, 2022, the IMF approved the 46-month EFF arrangement for Egypt.