IMF team to resume talks in Egypt next week

An International Monetary Fund team will arrive in Cairo next week to resume discussions on a $4.8 billion loan that Egypt has requested to shore up its finances, an IMF spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Egypt desperately needs financial support to plug budget and balance of payments deficits that have mushroomed since the popular uprising last year that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

Various Egyptian governments have been negotiating for an IMF loan for the last year and a half. The government of president Mohamed Mursi officially asked for a $4.8 billion loan soon after it was appointed in August, and an IMF team arrived for initial talks in September.

The IMF wants Egypt to take long-term steps to narrow a budget deficit that has grown to 11 percent of gross domestic product since the uprising, and measures to reduce costly state fuel subsidies will be key to any deal.