The International Monetary Fund announced on Friday the immediate disbursement of $820 million to the Egyptian government, part of an augmented plan to aid the nation’s stumbling economy.

The IMF’s Executive Board validated the payment as part of a $3 billion aid program granted at the end of 2022.

The IMF action, repeatedly postponed and eagerly awaited by the Egyptian government, arrives at a time of mounting difficulties for its economy.

The Board also approved a $5 billion extension announced at the beginning of the month, bringing the Fund’s total lending to Egypt to $8 billion.

In a news release, the IMF said that the Egyptian government has achieved all the objectives set out in the first two stages of the aid program, with the exception of the level of its foreign currency reserves.

“The authorities have significantly strengthened the reform package,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in the release.

“Recent measures toward correcting macroeconomic imbalances, including unification of the exchange rate… and significant tightening of monetary and fiscal policies, were difficult, but critical steps forward,” she added.

Earlier this month, Egypt’s central bank raised rates by six percentage points to 27.75 percent to combat inflation and bring the official exchange rate closer to the black market rate, causing the Egyptian pound to plunge 40 percent in one day, following a 50 percent fall over the last few months.