CAIRO: The International Monetary Fund will this week begin its delayed fourth review of Egypt’s 46-month loan programme, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Sunday.

The review had originally been scheduled for the end of September.

It comes under an agreement Cairo signed with the IMF in April, expanding an original loan from $3 billion to $8 billion to help Egypt manage its economic challenges.

The fourth review will unlock $1.2 billion in new financing.

At a Cairo joint news conference with IMF’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva, Madbouly said the IMF team would start work on the review on Tuesday “with Egypt’s central bank and relevant ministries”.

Georgieva praised “the commitment and the strength of the actions Egypt has already taken”.

She cited moving to “a flexible exchange rate regime”, boosting “the role of the private sector as a source of growth and jobs” and consolidating “social protection by moving away from untargeted subsidies”.

The IMF chief acknowledged the challenges faced by the country’s economy amid regional conflicts.