Egypt’s IMF loan accord unlikely before fourth quarter, EFG says

<p>Egypt is unlikely to reach a loan accord with the International Monetary Fund before the fourth quarter, exposing the local currency to more pressure, investment bank EFG-Hermes Holding SAE (HRHO) said.
The $4.8 billion loan agreement requires the government to take tough, unpopular economic decisions, EFG-Hermes analysts Simon Kitchen and Mohamed Abu Basha wrote in an e- mailed report dated yesterday. Talks between the Arab nation and IMF officials this month in Cairo and Washington ended without a deal, disrupting a bond rally.
Egypt’s attempts to secure IMF assistance over the past two years have failed as political turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising prompted successive governments to renege on two initial agreements with t...