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Sunday, 19 March 2017

On the horizon

Egypt expects to receive the second USD 1.25 bn payment of a USD 12 bnInternational Monetary Fund loan in May or June, Finance Minister Amr El Garhy told Reuters on Thursday. His remarks confirm those by IMF Mission Chief in Egypt Chris Jarvis, who had previously noted the payment is expected to come in June. An IMF team coming to assess progress on the reform agenda ahead of disbursing the second payments is due in Cairo on 8 May. The visit has been delayed to allow the Finance Ministry time to finish its 2017-18 budget.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives appears to have scheduled its plenary vote on the IMF agreement for 26 March, according to statements by House Legislative Committee member Alaa Abdel Moneim which we noted on Thursday.

El Garhy briefs president on new budget: Meanwhile, next year’s budget will apparently be ready to present to the cabinet economic group within two weeks, Al Masry Al Youm reports, citing an unnamed government official. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met with El Garhy and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail yesterday to discuss the economy and the basic planks of the new budget, including the strategy to reduce the budget deficit, according to a presidency statement.

On that front, the EGPC will be calculating its fuel subsidy costs for the FY2017-18 budget using the average EGP-USD exchange rate since the pound was floated in November and the average price for international crude, Al Borsa reports. The Petroleum Ministry’s subsidy bill for the current fiscal year has nearly doubled after the float, according to Minister Tarek El Molla.

Central Bank of Egypt’s monetary policy committee (MPC) will meet on 30 March to review interest rates.

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