CAIRO — On July 28, Egyptian Finance Minister Amr El Garhy announced that Egypt would seek a $21 billion loan package to fill the budget’s financing gap. Of this amount, $12 billion would be in the form of a loan from the International Monetary Fund — Egypt is in the final stages of negotiations to borrow the money — and the rest would come from two loans from the World Bank and the African Development Bank, as well as a bond sale and other loans from funding bodies and countries that the Finance Ministry has yet to announce.

Ahmed Kouchouk, ‎vice minister of finance for fiscal policies and institutional reform, has made press statements that the financing program Egypt is negotiating with the IMF would reach $12 billion in three years and would support the foreign exchange reserves held by the Central Bank of Egypt. The loan would also allow additional financing to reduce the budget deficit and pay for projects that would contribute to lowering the deficit and inflation.

The IMF mission arrived July 30 at Cairo International Airport to start official negotiations with Egypt on the $12 billion loan.

Egypt’s economy suffers from increased accumulated debts. Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail told parliament in March that the servicing of public debt constitutes 30% of public spending.