"In the period ahead, we are continuing our close engagement with the authorities towards reaching staff-level agreement," the IMF statement said.

The IMF announced that Egypt had made a request for a new programme in March as it came under new financial pressure from the war in Ukraine.

Egypt has turned to the IMF three times in recent years, borrowing $12 billion under an Extended Fund Facility in November 2016, $2.8 billion under a Rapid Financing Instrument in May 2020, and $5.2 billion under a Stand-by Arrangement in June 2020.

Analysts say that because Egypt has exceeded its normal IMF borrowing quota, it would likely face exceptional access criteria, making it subject to a greater level of scrutiny.

Egypt's central bank governor has previously said that the scale of any new funding is not expected to be large, given that Egypt has already taken a big allocation from the fund.