Masood Ahmed, director of the International Monetary Fund's Middle East and Central Asia department, attends the Capital Markets Conference in Doha September 18, 2012. (Photo: Reuters)
The International Monetary Fund may change the size of the $4.8 billion loan which it is negotiating with Egypt, depending on the country's needs, a senior IMF official said on Tuesday.
"The size may vary, it's a question of needs and what's required," Masood Ahmed, director of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia department, told reporters in response to a question.
He was speaking at a meeting of Arab finance ministers and central bank governors in Dubai.
An IMF delegation is to arrive in Egypt on Wednesday for talks with the government on the $4.8 billion loan. Ahmed said the talks would include reviewing Egypt's financing needs; an initial agreement on the loan was reached last November but then suspended because of political unrest in Egypt.
The Mina Daniel movement, named after the young activist killed in the Maspero clashes between security forces and Coptic protesters in October 2011, has called for a protest march on the same day against the IMF loan, which is conditional upon Egypt implementing tough and deeply unpopular economic reforms.
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