The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached a preliminary agreement with Egypt on Aug. 11 to create a three-year, $12 billion extended fund facility to help bolster and reform the Egyptian economy. According to the IMF's mission head, Chris Jarvis, Egypt will continue to implement structural reforms, including boosting fiscal stability to reduce its budget deficit, rationalizing energy subsidies, increasing exchange rate flexibility, spurring competition and improving the labor market. The IMF mission, which has been in Egypt since June 30, will now prepare a report to be approved by the IMF's executive board. The deal is an important part of a much broader program in Egypt, worth some $21 billion, aimed at improving the country's fiscal situation. Egypt's two previous attempts to negotiate with the IMF failed because Cairo was unwilling to make the unpopular reforms needed to seal the deal.