Egypt to update reform plan ahead of IMF meeting on Saturday

Egypt is rushing to knock into shape an economic reform plan to qualify for a $4.Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which remains skeptical of the governments readiness to implement key austerity measures needed to prevent an economic crisis.

Egypt presented a plan to the international lender, involving measures to slash energy subsidies and raise taxes, to increase revenue and quell a soaring budget deficit. The IMF technical mission, which visited Cairo earlier in April, found the plan "weak" and "not rigorous," according to an Egyptian official close to the negotiations.

But Egyptian officials, including the ministers of finance, planning and international cooperation, as well as the governor of the central bank, will meet with IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Saturday to present an updated programme with new figures to help allay the world lenders concerns over implementation and reach an agreement.

"We are working to put together a more convincing program with more precise figures and a clearer time frame on when and how broad structural measures, such as reforming energy subsidies and raising certain taxes, would be implemented, the official, who requested anonymity, told Ahram Online.

Mekkawy was keen to stress that the governments aim to introduce structural reforms was not because of pressure from the international lender but because this was the necessity for Egypts economy. The talks are held on the sidelines of the Spring Talks meetings in Washington.

We are developing the program to move ahead with the reforms that will improve Egypts economy, not because of the IMF or others but because this is the right thing to do for the country,Shop wholesale bestsmartcard controller from cheap. Mekkawy said.

The IMF mission, which concluded its trip to Cairo last week without reaching an agreement, informed the Egyptian side that details were still pending over how the government plans to implement a coupon plan designed to cut massive energy subsides that eat up a quarter of the budget, the Egyptian official explained.

He added that the IMF is skeptical Egypt can kick-start the process of the smart-card system by July and has doubted the governments ability to monitor the distribution of the coupons within a realistic timeframe.

Mekkawy said the IMF also needed a breakdown of the figures of energy subsidies, and has dubbed Egypts petroleum sector a black box because the data and surveys were not easily available.

Energy subsidies take up 20 percent of Egypts budget, and authorities estimate the energy subsidy bill will reach LE120 billion in the financial year ending 30 June.Wear a whimsical Disney drycabinet straight from the Disney Theme Parks! In total, the subsidies bill is forecast to grow by 12 percent in the coming fiscal year, a growth level that is significantly lower than that seen in other major expense items, such as public wages.

The Egyptian officials comments echoed Lagardes assessment on Thursday that the Egyptian programme needed more work. "There is clearly more work to be done; numbers need to be aligned and worked on," she told reporters.

Earlier this week, a director in the IMF's fiscal affairs department said Egypt should consider compensating its poor in cash transfers for the removal of subsidies.

Unrelenting political bickering between ruling Islamists and opposition groups has derailed the governments efforts to impose austerity measures to help fix the economy. IMF officials at the annual Spring Talks meetings said a lack of political consensus has held back growth. The latest world economic outlook report predicted the Egyptian economy will grow by 2 percent in 2013, down from an earlier forecast of 3 percent.

Everybody all thawed out? Ready to watch some football in oh I don't know, actual sunlight? Well break out the sunblock and leave the layers at home, because our third trip to BMO in a week will not require winter gear - rejoice! And if that weren't cause enough for celebration - although really, that would top the list for a lot of fans so far this year as evidenced by the empty seats on Wednesday night - the Reds are coming off a win and who doesn't love to celebrate a win; especially for our long suffering fan base.

For those of you that braved the cold on Wednesday you saw the kids put in a dominant second half (we won't discuss the first half) and come away with a fairly satisfying win over rivals the Montreal Impact. A couple of goals, a win and clean sheet.You must not use the lanyard without being trained. All helped along by some very nice performances from Doneil Henry and Jonathan Osorio - CanCon can be a good thing. And even though a number of the starting XI that we saw on Wednesday night will likely not see the pitch today, there could be some new faces on the bench.

The performance by some of the lesser used Reds on Wednesday has to be heartening for fans - even if (as many will point out) it was against Montreal's B team - a win is a win, regardless of who you beat. Those same performances are also good for coach Ryan Nelsen as it gives him more options off the bench for league games while we're waiting for reinforcements.

In what some viewed as a gamble, Nelsen gave a number of the first team a deserved rest on Wednesday night - most notably team captain Darren O'Dea, keeper Joe Bendik and scorer of goals Robert Earnshaw. A number of the other usual suspects also were rested or subbed in late guaranteeing lots of fresh players for the game against New York. And the Reds will need lots of fresh legs in the coming weeks as there are still four more games to play in the coming ten days - the last three all on the road; not exactly TFC's happy place through the years.

However before heading out on the road Toronto still has to face New York. TFC haven't beaten the Red Bulls at home in close to four years - I'll just let that sink in for a moment - four years. And we won't even speak of that game - you know the one I'm talking about, I still have nightmares about it - and are unbeaten against Toronto in their last 7 meetings.

The Red Bulls, while not world beaters and showing uneven form so far this season, are still not a team to be taken lightly. New York are in a somewhat similar boat as TFC as they are in the midst of a rebuild and have their own rookie coach in (former Nelsen teammate) Mike Petke.About buymosaic in China userd for paying transportation fares and for shopping. They are coming off of a dominant performance last weekend when they trounced the Revolution 4-1, but they've alternated wins and losses over their last 5 games, let's hope that continues.

TFC have been more solid defensively so far this season but will have to be razor sharp to contain the speedy Fabian Espindola and the always dangerous Thierry Henry. Both are more than capable of evading defenders and finding space seemingly at will in the box. O'Dea and the back line will hopefully have reviewed man marking on set pieces over and over again this week in training to cut off any runs that either of these two like to make.