Egypt hopes to finalize a fresh assistance program with the IMF “within two months,” Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly told lawmakers yesterday in an address focusing on the government’s response to what he said was the worst global crisis since the Second World War, according to cabinet statements (here and here). Madbouly did not provide details on the program during the meeting, but said it would aim to “sustain [the state’s] economic reform programs … and affirm that Egypt is moving in a disciplined manner.”

BACKGROUND- We’ve been in talks with the Fund for several months on a new assistance program to help us mitigate the fiscal strain and balance of payments pressure caused by spillover effects from the war in Ukraine. Madbouly said earlier this month that it could take months before an agreement is sealed, while CBE governor Tarek Amer said we would only receive limited funding due to it already exceeding its quota. Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said earlier this week that talks were going “very well.”