Egypt will hold a presidential vote on December 10-12, the election authority said Monday, with the winner to be announced by December 18.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief, has ruled for nearly a decade in the Arab world's most populous country, which is now mired in a deep economic crisis.

Experts had predicted Sisi would move forward the 2024 election, ahead of a possible switch to a flexible exchange rate that could exacerbate social tensions.

Sisi was first elected in 2014 after leading the ouster of elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, and then won a 2018 vote in a landslide against one of his own political allies.

Presidential hopefuls can apply from October, and the list of candidates is to be finalized by November 9, said Walid Hassan Hamza, chairman of Egypt's National Election Authority.

The vote comes at a time Egypt's currency has lost half its value since March 2022 and inflation reached an all-time high of 39.7 percent in August.

The government has kept the exchange rate pegged since early this year.