First payout to Egypt around 2.5 bln USD: IMF official

The International Monetary Fund's initial loan payment to Egypt is expected to be around 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, state-run Ahram newspaper reported on its website on Friday.

"I hope to secure board approval for the program after it is reviewed by the IMF executive council by the end of current month," Ahram quoted Masood Ahmed, director of IMF's Middle East Department as saying.

Egypt will receive the initial loan payment two days after the approval, Ahmed added.

Egypt reached an initial deal with the IMF on a 12 billion U.S. dollars loan in August, a move seen by many experts as a necessary step to help the country's ailing economy.

"The loan program would contain conditions that include reducing Egypt's budget deficit and making its currency exchange rate system more market-driven," the IMF's senior official added.

Ahmed added the IMF has finished talks with some countries to provide about five to six billion dollars needed for the program in the first year.

He also hailed the Egyptian economic reform steps to liberate the exchange rate.

The foreign currency reserves at the Central Bank of Egypt declined since the 2011 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak from 36 billion U.S. dollars to 19.59 billion as of end of September.

Egyptian media reported on Friday speculations about an imminent devaluation of the Egyptian pound as part of the economic reform required by the IMF in exchange of the loan.

The official exchange rate for the U.S. dollar is 8.8 Egyptian pounds, but it was close to 14 pounds at the local black market this week, according to some traders. Endit