Barron’s(paywall) notes that the USD 12 bn, three-year IMF facility will, if passed, “improve the outlook for the country’s stocks and bonds.” Noting that both Egypt and the IMF have had a lot of bad press of late, the magazine writes that with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi “confident in his power … the unpopular restoration of fiscal sanity may take this time, experts think. ‘It’s less about the IMF money and more about the policy,’ says Anthony Simond, an emerging markets manager at Aberdeen Investment Management in London.” The Van Eck Vectors Egypt Index ETF is up 8% since IMF talks gained momentum, but Alison Graham, chief investment officer at New York–based frontier markets specialist Voltan Capital Management, tips CIB and Oriental Weavers, citing Van Eck’s limited liquidity.

The kicker: “Long-term, Egypt bulls see the basis for an emerging-markets tiger, should authorities get their policy act together,” the magazine notes, going on to recap the usual drivers: large population, gaps in basic goods and services (90% unbanked…), and promising offshore natural gas finds. “Amid all its chaos, Egypt’s GDP grew by 4.2% last year and should expand more than 3% this year, the World Bank predicts. ‘There’s a lot of grounds for optimism given the country’s natural endowments,’ says Jean-Paul Pigat, senior economist at Emirates NBD in Dubai.” H/t Hisham E.