Finance Minister Hazem el-Beblawi had said in remarks
published last week that Egypt was now inclined to seek foreign borrowing
because of the lower interest rates and longer payment periods offered.
When Egypt turned down the $3.2 billion IMF financing
facility in the summer, the then finance minister said it was partly because
Egypt's ruling military did not want to build up debts and said Egypt would
rely on local resources.
"We will ask them to come to negotiations and most
probably it will be based on the previous one," El-Beblawi, who was
appointed finance minister in July, told Reuters about the formal request that
would be made to the IMF.
El-Beblawi confirmed that discussions would be over the
same amount of $3.2 billion offered previously, but he did not give further
details.
At the end of October, the minister said no formal
request had been made. An IMF team visited Egypt to assess financing needs in
October but an IMF official afterwards said the institution had not received an
official request for cash.
