An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff mission will pay an official visit to Cairo starting next July 30 to discuss Egypt's request for a financial support programme. The mission will be headed by Chris Jarvis, head of the International Monetary Fund's Mission to Egypt and Advisor at the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department. Egypt announced on Tuesday it is close to agreeing a lending programme with the IMF to ease its funding gap and was seeking to secure $7 billion annually in financing over a three-year period. The Egyptian prime minister ordered the central bank governor and minister of finance to complete negotiations for the programme with the IMF staff mission. Egypt's finance minister said on Tuesday that the government was seeking $12 billion from the IMF over three years, at an annual interest rate of 1 percent to 1.5 percent. From its part, the IMF confirmed later on Tuesday loan talks with Egypt. "We welcome this request, and look forward to discussing policies which can help Egypt meet its economic challenges. Our goals are to help Egypt return to economic stability and to support strong, sustainable and job-rich growth," Masood Ahmed, the IMF's Middle East director, said in a statement.
