An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is to visit Egypt later this month to discuss a potential $3.2 billion loan to the Egyptian government, Egypt's finance minister told local media on Sunday. “The IMF has not formulated any special terms for aid to Egypt,” Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Saeed said. Earlier reports said international financial organizations had insisted that Egypt restrict budget subsidies for food products and fuel. State-run al-Ahram newspaper reported that Egypt's Trade and Foreign Industry Minister Mahmoud Isa would lead the country's delegation to Washington on January 17-20 to discuss emergency aid package to Cairo. The sides will also consider the US possible investment in major projects in Egypt, including an industrial zone for small and medium-sized business that would provide about half a million jobs. Late last month, Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri said the international community had failed to provide the financial aid it had promised following the coup that ousted long-time leader Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. Besides, Egypt's economy has lost $9 billion, including in foreign investment, in the past few months over social instability in the country. Protests and unrest have continued after Mubarak's resignation, with pro-democracy activists pressing for reforms from the military who took over from Mubarak. Clashes between protesters and security forces have killed more than 100 people since Mubarak's ouster. Since Fenruary, the country's gold and currency reserves have nearly halved. The new authorities have spent $16 billion out of $36 billion of the reserves, which had been accumulated during the last few years of Mubarak's rule. The economy has not recovered from the upheavals and the revolution. The government said foreign investment had stopped. The tourist sector has lost billions of dollars, and plants and factories are running at 50 percent of their capacity. The government is facing the need to cover the social needs of the people. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/0diU4 Tags: Economy, IMF, Loan Section: Business, Egypt
