Egypt agrees initial deal for $3bn IMF loan

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http://www.arabianbusiness.com/egypt-agrees-initial-deal-for-3bn-imf-loan-402759.html

Egypt's finance Minister Samir Radwan said on Monday that his country has agreed in principle on a $3bn, 12-month loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that he hoped would be signed by Sunday.

He said that the loan would help Egypt fill a budget deficit for the financial year ending in June 2012 that he estimated would be 11.3 percent of gross domestic product, up from the 7.9 percent that had been forecast before the uprising.

Cairo has been asking international donors and lenders for funding help after protests that ended President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule scared away tourists and investors, two of its main sources of foreign exchange.

The crisis has cut into the government's revenue from taxes at a time of increasing demands on expenditure, which include calls for higher wages from state employees and pressure to raise subsidies on basic commodities.





:eyes: here we go.