IRNUSA News - Sean Scott Ferguson

To help revive its struggling economy Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi has asked visiting IMF Chief Christine Lagarde for a $4.8 billion loan. Lagarde has said the IMF would act swiftly.

After the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak’s government, Egypt’s foreign reserves have more than halved, and the central bank has been selling dollars to prop up the Egyptian pound.

The deficit is predicted to be 7.9% of Egypt’s gross domestic product in 2012-13 fiscal year. It has internal debt of $193 billion and foreign debt of $33.8 billion.