IMF team works Cairo on final review while Egypt holds fuel prices flat
The Fund has confirmed a mission is in Egypt for the eighth and last review of the $8bn facility, with roughly $2.3bn left to disburse. Trade press says two committed fuel price increases have already been skipped.
IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack confirmed at a 29 October press briefing that a mission is in Cairo for the eighth and final review of Egypt’s 46-month Extended Fund Facility and the third review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility. “We have a mission in the field right now discussing the reviews, the programme,” Kozack said, putting the final disbursement at roughly $2.3bn. The EFF was agreed in December 2022 and the RSF added in 2025; the seventh EFF and second RSF reviews closed in July 2026 and released about $1.8bn. The Fund is targeting December for board approval, according to The National’s account of the briefing. Discussions, as reported, cover tight monetary policy, fiscal consolidation, rebuilding buffers, domestic revenue mobilisation and private-sector participation — the same list as the previous seven rounds.
The sharpest item in the file is not confirmed by the Fund. EnterpriseAM, a Cairo business newsletter, reported on 26 October — citing one unnamed government official — that the mission had arrived on 25 October, earlier than expected, and that the government has skipped two fuel price increases committed to under the seventh review, with prices frozen through end-December. Its 19 October report, citing three unnamed officials, said divestments and tax collection were running in the government’s favour while energy subsidies and a stalled tax on freezones were holding things back. That freezone tax is a structural benchmark parliament failed to pass last year, due for publication in the official gazette by end-November. The programme expires on 15 December. Cairo has already named its successor framework: the National Economic Transformation Program 2027–2030.
The buffers the Fund asked Egypt to rebuild have, on the central bank’s own numbers, been rebuilt. Net international reserves stood at $57.3482bn at end-September, up $5.896bn over nine months from $51.452bn in December 2025 — though September’s gain was only $133.7mn, or 0.23%. Banking sector net foreign assets reached $31.2bn in August, the highest since January 2020. Remittances hit a record $47.3bn in FY2025/26, up 29.6%. Against that, Suez Canal revenue of $4.67bn for the fiscal year, up 23% per Planning Minister Ahmed Rostom, is roughly a tenth of what Egyptians abroad send home, and still about half the $9.4bn record of FY2022/23. One further element the desk cannot yet stand up: an Egyptian FX report dated 1 November refers to “the central bank’s decision to raise interest rates,” without a size or a terminal rate.