CAIRO: The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to Egypt said that his group is prepared to offer Egypt a $3.2 billion loan set to help the country's widening budget deficit without imposing any conditions. Masood Ahmed, the director the of the IMF's Middle East department, said that he would like to see Egypt produce a two-year reform program, with approval from all leading political factions. Negotiations about the loan, originally proposed last June, were reopened this past week in Cairo. Egypt's budget deficit has reached EGP 144 billion (US $24 billion), as the state's economy suffers through a period of political turbulence in the wake of popular uprisings that ousted the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak last February. Some had feared that the privatization and deregulation conditions traditionally tethered to IMF loans could have compromised Egypt's economic sovereignty and revert the country back to failed Mubarak-era policies. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Egypt's interim ruling body has vacillated in its position on the loan through the appointment of three different finance ministers since rejecting the package last June. However, Egypt's economy is now in dire need of assistance. Amid the instability, rumors of petrol shortages and price hikes have caused chaos across Egypt since Sunday, as cars wait in gridlocked queues at pumping stations in order to fill up on gas. Egypt's Petrol Authority says that they have no intention of hiking prices or ending gas subsidies, and blame the shortages on fuel hoarding, a consumer habit caused by the rumors. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/APQtq Tags: featured, IMF loan Section: Egypt, Latest News
