Egypt Names New Key Negotiator With IMF

Dr. Abdallah Shehata, economic adviser to the Minister of Finance and head of Economic Affairs Committee of the Freedom and Justice Party, has become the new main negotiator with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), following Dr. Hany Kadry Dimian who resigned as first deputy finance minister.

Sources said the Ministry of Finance currently witnesses remarkable conflicts between the new pro-Muslim Brotherhood ministerial team and some of the current team members who intend to resign from the Ministry soon including Sami Khalaf, adviser on public debt policies, and Ahmed Kojak, head of executive financial policies.

Dr. Hany Kadry Dimian was the crucial point man in negotiations with the international lender over US$4.8 billion loan. A senior European diplomat said his departure was not a good omen for Egypt’s hopes of sealing a deal on the long-delayed loan next month, as the government has said it aims to do.