IMF officials to visit Egypt for aid talks

NEW YORK — Top officials from the International Monetary Fund will visit Cairo later this month to discuss renewing aid, the IMF announced Sunday.

The mission, led by the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia chief Masood Ahmed, is expected to “resume discussions on possible financial support for a homegrown economic program,” the IMF said in a statement.
The fund “stands ready to support Egypt and work closely with the authorities,” it added.

In late June, IMF chief Christine Lagarde called Egypt’s newly-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, to offer IMF help.

Since late last year, the fund has been discussing with the country’s interim leadership a possible $3.2 billion loan with Cairo to help it bridge fiscal shortfalls while restructuring the economy and financial system.

But a permanent government needed to first be in place to firm up the loan program, which will require significant structural reforms. And the IMF stressed in April that it needed “a broad buy-in” from various constituencies in the country to the program. — AFP