The International Monetary Fund will give its final approval on Egypt's $12 billion lending programme before November 11th, the chairman of Egypt's largest-listed bank, CIB, said on Saturday. Hisham Ezz al-Arab said in a television interview that he has knowledge with the IMF's ongoing talks with Egypt and that the fund would sign the final agreement by November 11 maximum. Egypt received earlier in August a preliminary approval for the three-year deal aimed at plugging its budget deficit and balancing currency markets but the IMF's executive board still has to sign off. "Floating the Egyptian pound will make a positive impact on the national economy; the market will witness some uncertainty for a just a while and citizens have not to worry." Ezz al-Arab said. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde has called on Thursday Egypt's historic currency devaluation a "welcome move" that showed a serious approach by the government to deal with the country's economic problems. The IMF has required gradual steps toward a floating, market-driven foreign exchange rate system as one of the pre-conditions for board approval of a $12 billion IMF loan programme for Egypt. Supplemental bilateral financing of up to $6 billion also needs to be in place, and implementation of a government plan to reduce fuel subsidies.
