The IMF is currently reviewing Egypt's new procedures for reducing its budget deficit as a prerequisite to resuming talks that would finalise the $4.8 billion loan deal, says Masood Ahmed, IMF's director of the Middle East and Central Asia department.

"Egypt's government is determined to move forward and is fully cooperating to seal the loan deal, there are just a few minor complications that it needs to overcome before it can receive the loan," explains Ahmed.

Ahmed stressed that the IMF needs to be fully convinced that Egypt will be able to fully implement the loan programme before it can give a final agreement on the loan, Egyptian state-run news agency MENA reports.

Economy experts and opposition figures had warned the Egyptian government that the loan programme could have a high social cost, especially on low-income strata, and that the government should be prepared for the consequences.

The IMF had announced that it endorsed the series of procedures undertaken in December by Egypt's central bank to boost the country's decreasing foreign reserves.