The Arab Republic of Egypt and the International Monetary Fund (IMD) has agreed to merge the first and second review of its US $3 billion extended arrangement agreed December 2022. The first review was supposed to hold in March 2023 and the second this month. Those reviews will now hold together. The IMF support was designed to support macroeconomic stability, reduce inflation, and allow fiscal consolidation. Egypt, like most African economies has faced heightened economic uncertainty following recent global economic shocks. Poverty remains high at near 30%, while unemployment is near 10%. Growth expectation for 2023 is at 4%. Egypt is the largest Africa borrower from the IMF.
