Amr Darrag: Negotiations with IMF are Going Ahead

Minister of Planning and International cooperation Amr Darrag said negotiations are going on with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the $ 4,8 billion loan. He said he would continue negotiations launched by the government, adding the IMF does not impose any conditions on Egypt. He said the Egyptian economic reform program is purely Egyptian and aims at serving interests of the Egyptian citizens. He said there are no disagreements with the IMF on the structure of subsidies which aim at achieving social justice.

Darrag asserted the government is seeking to secure subsidy for the targeted brackets and to bring the budget deficit to 9,5% of the Gross Domestic Product. He said the international lender's loan to Egypt will testify recovery of the Egyptian economy and improvement of its credit rating. In a related development, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a statement that the foreign exchange reserve rose in April by $ one billion to reach $ 14.42 billion compared to $ 13.42 billion by the end of last March.

Meantime, Economic expert Mohsen Adel said the main reason of reserve growth is attributed to the Libyan deposit which is valued at $ 2 billion and the positive results of the foreign exchange policy and decline of the disassociation by foreigners from the Egyptian capital market.