Egypt’s IMF deal comes up against cost pressures

Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Egypt's president, speaks during a high-level segment on day two of the COP28 climate conference at Expo City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. More than 70,000 politicians, diplomats, campaigners, financiers and business leaders will fly to Dubai to talk about arresting the world’s slide toward environmental catastrophe. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

Cairo: Egypt’s president suggested its International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme might need to be reviewed if economic pressures place an intolerable burden on the country’s more than 106 million people.

The US$8bil IMF deal reached earlier this year is being implemented under “extremely difficult regional, international and global circumstances”, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said in comments to a conference in Cairo.