Mohamed Morsy, president of the Freedom and Justice Party, said on Monday he did not receive sufficient clarification from the government of Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri on the requested loan from the International Monetary Fund.
Egypt announced in January that it had formally asked the IMF for a US$3.2 billion loan, saying it wanted the loan as soon as possible and hoped an agreement would be signed within weeks.
The IMF has said that any agreement has to attract broad political support within the country and be accompanied by financial commitments from other international donors.
“But we have no reservations on dealing with the IMF or any other international institution that Egypt is a member of,” Morsy told an IMF delegation during a meeting in Cairo on Monday.
“The government did not provide us with the economic reform plan related to the loan,” he said, adding that the loan would be a burden on the Egyptian people, and that they have the right to know where it would be spent and how it would be paid off.
“The government did not make efforts to find other alternatives that do not increase the public debt,” he said. “The reform program submitted by the government is inadequate for the party to decide whether it would not bring more economic and social burdens.”
Masood Ahmed, IMF Regional Director for Asia and North Africa, said that the Egyptian budget suffers from a temporary deficit that local resources are not able to offset with local currency treasury bills, and that the foreign reserves are declining sharply. “The loan may solve part of this problem,” he said.
Al-Masry Al-Youm quoted sources that said there are preparations for a meeting between representatives of political parties, both represented and not represented in Parliament, some civic groups, and members of the IMF mission currently visiting Egypt.
Sources said the IMF is meeting with various political parties and forces to explore their opinion of the government’s reform program, since granting the loan is contingent upon their approval.
