Egypt nears $4.8b IMF deal

Egypt’s government is in the late stages of verifying its economic reform programme with the International Monetary Fund before obtaining a $4.8 billion IMF loan, its central bank governor said on Saturday.

The loan, needed to help stabilise Egypt’s balance of payments and state finances, has been under discussion for two years but agreement has repeatedly been postponed by political unrest in the country and the government’s reluctance to commit to austerity measures.

“The IMF is verifying numbers with the government regarding the programme and they are in late stages of verifying all the numbers,” central bank governor Hisham Ramez told reporters after a meeting of regional central bank chiefs in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.