Egypt reaches primary agreement with IMF on $4.8 bln

Egypt's Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf el-Arabi announced Tuesday that they have reached a primary agreement with the International Monetary Fund(IMF) mission to grant Egypt 4.8 billion U.S. dollars. A talk between IMF delegation and the Egyptian government was held earlier in the day at the Egyptian Cabinet headquarters. The agreement will be referred to the IMF board in Washington next month, said Arabi. With a massive demonstration last year, Egypt urgently need this loan to cover the budget deficits after its foreign reserves fell to about half of the level at the end of the era of former leader Hosni Mubarak. The government is also facing a balance of payments crisis and high borrowing costs, and the IMF loan would help avoid the currency devaluation.