Egypt to reach initial loan pact with IMF

Cairo: Egypt has reached an initial agreement with the International Monetary Fund on a loan designed to help it revive its struggling economy, according to a senior Egyptian official.
The country had sought a $12 billion loan over three years. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not been announced, declined to share details about the staff-level deal.
Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy and the IMF delegation in Cairo declined to comment. Central bank Governor Tarek Amer didn’t immediately comment. Egyptian leaders have scheduled a joint news conference with the IMF at noon in Cairo, the cabinet said in a message to reporters.
Egyptian officials have said a deal with the IMF would help restore confidence in the economy, which has been hurt by years of instability and unrest since the 2011 ouster of Hosni Mubarak.
The government’s economic revival programme includes plans to introduce value-added taxation, cut electricity subsidies and curb wage increases. Economists expect the central bank to devalue the local pound currency or adopt a flexible exchange rate regime to end a dollar crunch that has hampered economic activity.