Qandil meets chief of IMF mission

Prime Minister Hisham Qandil met Thursday with chief of International Monetary Fund's (IMF) technical mission Andreas Bauer and his accompanying delegation. The meeting reviewed the progress in the mission's task, which will last till next week, to finalize talks on expected IMF loan agreement to Egypt, Cabinet Spokesman Ambassador Alaa Al-Hadidi. The Egyptian side stressed that the Qatari and Libyan financial support will not discourage the government on its determination to carry out its national plan for economic and social welfare, as well as finalizing an agreement with IMF. Central bank governor Hisham Ramez, Finance Minister Morsi Hegazy, and Planning and International Minister Ashraf el-Arabi attended the meeting. Egypt and the IMF have reached in November an agreement in principle with regard to the loan, but talks in this respect were suspended due to domestic developments in Egypt.