Minister of Finance Amr El-Garhy announced on Monday that Egypt will secure an additional $6bn from foreign institutions to guarantee the agreement for a $12bn loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over a two-week period. In August, the IMF initially agreed to grant Egypt a $12bn three-year loan to support the government's economic reform programme, which aims to bridge the budget deficit and restore stability to the exchange market. However, Egypt needs to obtain $6bn from foreign institutions before submitting the agreement to the IMF's board for adoption. In an interview with CBC channel, the minister also said that the government will submit the Investment Law to parliament "in a month and a half or possibly more". The government is working on a new Investment Law, which it hopes will fix the complexity of official procedures in Egypt and facilitate a quicker process for foreign investment. El-Garhy said that Egypt will issue international bonds during the second half of November or the first week of December. Egypt asked JPMorgan, Citibank, BNP Paribas, and Natixis in August to arrange the offering of its international bonds. The Egyptian government agreed earlier this month to issue international bonds worth $3-5bn. The Egyptian economy has been suffering since the 25 January Revolution, which was followed by political instability that gave way to reluctance among tourists and foreign investors, considered primary sources of foreign currency. With the framework of an economic reform programme standing as the base of the agreement with the IMF, Egypt agreed to impose the value-added tax (VAT), which has been on the table for a long while. The IMF also wants Egypt's monetary policy to focus on alleviating the chronic shortage of the US dollar and to reduce the inflation rate to a single-digit.
