Egypt Min: Country Needs $11B To Finance Economic Reform Prog -Report

Saturday, Feb 11, 2012

BEIRUT (Zawya Dow Jones)--Egypt needs nearly $11 billion to finance its economic reform program for the current and next fiscal year, Cairo-based Al Ahram daily reports Saturday, citing Finance Minister Mumtaz El Saeed.

Saeed also said that his country is expected to resume consultations with the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, soon, the paper reports.

An Egyptian minister said in January that they had asked the IMF for a loan of $3.2 billion to finance the country's budget deficit.

The economic reform program, which will be presented to local political parties for public debate, comprises several measures that aim to boost the state's revenue and rationalize its spending, the daily cites Saeed as saying Saturday.

The program includes, among other things, introducing value added tax, and offering plots of state land for sale to Egyptian expatriates, and these sales would generate between $14 billion and $15 billion within four years, he said according to Al Ahram.

Newspaper website: http://www.ahram.org.eg/5/Economy.html

-By Beirut Bureau, Zawya Dow Jones; +961-1-985 757; BeirutZDJ@zawya.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-02-12 1130GMT