CAIRO (AP) — The International Monetary Fund says it allowing Egypt to draw on about $2.3 billion from an earlier approved loan, noting that the country has made progress in restoring economic stability and reducing inflation as part of a reform program.

The IMF said in a statement Wednesday that the decision to release the funding followed reviews of the government reforms, which it credited with bringing about “a broad-based economic recovery” in the world’s most populous Arab country. It noted that the gross domestic product grew at a rate of 4.4% from 2024 to 2025.

A $3 billion bailout loan for Egypt approved in 2022 was increased to $8 billion in 2024 — an effort to shore up an economy hit by a staggering shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation that peaked at 38% in September 2023.

Inflation fell to 11.9% in January, the Washington-based Fund said in its statement.

Measures that Egypt took to tackle inflation included the flotation of the Egyptian pound and interest rate hikes.

However, the IMF noted that progress “has been uneven.” It said that too much of the economy remains in the hands of the state, and that “decisive efforts to reduce the state’s footprint in the economy will be essential.”

Egypt’s economy has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, the fallout from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Additionally, attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen on shipping routes in the Red Sea have slashed Suez Canal revenues, which is a major source for foreign currency. The attacks forced traffic away from the canal and around the tip of Africa.

Around 30% of the people in the nation of more than 108 million lives in below poverty line, according to the latest government figures.