New Egypt finmin cautious on IMF loan - statement

New Egypt finmin cautious on IMF loan – statement

Egypt is not ready for a decision on funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government said on Saturday in a statement that named Mumtaz al-Saeed as the country's new finance minister.

December 3, 2011 7:29 by Reuters

“Regarding the fate of the deal with the IMF for the $3.2 billion fund, which is the deal that has been suspended because of the recent events, al-Saeed said it is too early to know the fate of this loan,” the Finance Ministry said.

An interim government that has been lobbying for foreign funds to bolster a ballooning budget deficit resigned last month and the new Prime Minister chosen by the country’s army rulers, Kamal al-Ganzouri, has yet to formally announce a new cabinet.

Several names of new ministers have filtered into local media over the weekend, including that of al-Saeed, but the official news agency MENA said on Saturday that Ganzouri was now rethinking his line-up. (Reporting by Tamim Elyan; writing by Tom Pfeiffer; editing by James Jukwey)