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An Egyptian delegation is set to land in Washington next week to discuss the combined fifth and sixth reviews of our USD 8 bn Extended Fund Facility program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a senior government official told EnterpriseAM. The delegation will discuss outstanding issues in the program throughout the week, coinciding with the IMF / World Bank annual meetings from 13-18 October in DC, we were told.
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Discussions between our delegation and the fund are expected to focus on the progress — or lack thereof — made on the state privatization program and growing the private sector’s contribution in the economy, which our source highlighted as two key priorities for the IMF. Fund officials have previously stressed these two points, presenting the move as essential to creating a flexible and dynamic private sector buffer to help the economy fare in future geopolitical shocks and economic challenges.
Positive economic indicators aren’t the only thing the fund wants to see, as the lender needs to ensure that Egypt is on a sustainable and irreversible path of structural economic reforms to lock in gains made so far, our source told us.
But despite the fund’s insistence on the end goal, they’re signaling that they are flexible on timelines — at least to a certain extent. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said last week that they are open to Egypt postponing its privatization efforts to 2026, explaining that “we are not fixated on superficial targets, we are committed to the direction of travel.”
Giving the delegation a boost in negotiations may be soon-to-be-announced EGX listing incentives to support the government’s privatization-via-IPO push, which a senior government official told EnterpriseAM this week will be announced “within days.” This next phase of privatization will kick off with a company affiliated with the military’s National Service Projects Organization hitting the EGX soon, the source said.
