Cairo - Egypt has reached a preliminary agreement with a team from the International Monetary Fund for a $4.8bn loan, a minister said on Tuesday.
"We have a preliminary agreement with the technical team of the IMF," Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf al-Araby told a news conference with the head of the IMF delegation.
The minister added that the preliminary agreement would go to the IMF board to be finalised in December. An IMF official said the loan would be disbursed over 22 months.