Egypt and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have “agreed to finalize their work to reach a staff-level agreement very soon,” said IMF Communications Director Gerry Rice in a press release yesterday, following IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s own press conference on Friday.

During her press conference, Georgieva stated that the IMF and Egypt have resolved all “big policy issues” during discussions on the upcoming new loan program, and are scheduled to meet again on Saturday.

The announcement is in-line with the MD’s previous comments in early October, when she stated that both parties could come into agreement “within days or weeks.”

The IMF head also added that both sides are still working on smaller technical details, adding that these were “not trivial matters and involved Egyptian exchange rate policies.”

In a statement by the IMF, Rice stated that progress has been made on the fiscal policies as well as monetary and exchange rate policies as well as Egypt’s comprehensive structural reform agenda.

“IMF staff and the Egyptian authorities have held very productive in-person discussions on the margins of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings and made substantial progress on all policies,” explained the IMF.

It added that a continued fiscal consolidation path will safeguard public debt sustainability and ensure a steady decline in the debt-to-GDP ratio over the medium term. Additional fiscal and related structural policies would further expand the social safety net for the most vulnerable, improve the budget composition, and enhance fiscal transparency.

The IMF recently upped its forecast for Egypt’s real GDP growth for FY2022/2023, while lowering its expectations for the global economy citing significant slowdowns from some of the largest economies today.

The change in the Central Bank of Egypt’s leadership was a reason for the delay, said Georgieva, who stated that new CBE governor Hassan Abdalla governor needs to “feel comfortable with where we are headed with the policy.” Abdalla was appointed in August after the resignation of long-time CBE head Tarek Amer, and recently chaired the IMF’s first physical Boards of Governors meeting over the weekend.