The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that the Egyptian economy would grow by 2.8 percent in the current 2020/2021 fiscal year, and forecast that growth would rise to 5.2 percent in the next 2021/2022 fiscal year.

A panel of IMF experts completed an electronic platform mission from 4 to 24 May with the Egyptian authorities, according to a statement from the Monetary Fund, where "the mission held discussions in the framework of the Article IV 2021 consultations with Egypt and the second audit of the performance of its IMF-supported economic programme with a 12-month credit readiness agreement."

The statement confirmed that "a team of Fund experts and the Egyptian authorities reached an expert-level agreement on the second audit of the performance of the Egyptian economic programme supported by the Fund under the $5.2 billion credit readiness agreement. This agreement is subject to approval by the UNFPA Executive Board, which will take place in the coming weeks. Upon approval, Egypt will have an additional 1.16 billion s (approximately US $1.6 billion). "

The statement explained that "over the past 12 months, the strong performance and commitment of the authorities to the planned path have helped to achieve the programme's objectives of maintaining macroeconomic stability during the pandemic, protecting necessary social and health spending and implementing basic structural reforms."

The statement indicated that "the accumulation of net international reserves and the initial balance exceeded the programme targets. Inflation remained tight with the March 4.5 results exceeding the minimum internal scope provided for in the Monetary Policy Consultation Clause. "

The statement emphasized that "all structural criteria have been met, including progress in reforms relating to transparency of public finances and governance, social protection and improvement of the business climate, while continuing targeted efforts to reduce exposure to debt risks and create greater budget space for spending on priority items."

The statement noted that the Egyptian economy had shown a strong "growth rate is expected to reach 2.8 percent in fiscal year 2020/2021, rising to 5.2 percent in fiscal year 2021/2022."

The statement suggested that "uncertainty remains against the background of residual risks in relation to the pandemic, and appropriate policy focus is placed on supporting short-term recovery in parallel with deepening and expanding structural reforms to unleash Egypt's enormous growth potential in the medium term."