Egypt s finance minister said his government will sign a memorandum of understanding with the International Monetary Fund in March for a previously spurned $3.2 billion loan, state media reported Sunday. The official Al-Ahram newspaper quoted Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said as saying that an IMF delegation will visit Cairo next month to sign the agreement for the three-phase loan. "The interest rate on the loan is 1.2 percent, and it will be used to support the budget for 2012-2013," he said. The loan will be paid in three installments, the first as soon as the agreement is signed, he added. Egypt had turned down the loan last year, saying it did not want to add to its foreign debt, but reconsidered as its economy plummeted and much of the promised aid from Arab and Western donors did not materialise. In January, the head of an IMF mission to Egypt ruled out imposing conditions on Cairo for the loan. Egypt is facing a budget deficit of 144 billion Egyptian pounds (about $24 billion) which analysts expect to deepen as the country continues to feel the aftershocks of an uprising last year that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak.
Mfarhanonline News
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