IMF leaves Egypt after hearing from opposition

By Aya Batrawy

Published April 16, 2013 4:00am ET

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IMF leaves Egypt after hearing from opposition — FILE -- In this Monday, March 25, 2013 file photo, an Egyptian bread vender looks for clients on a bridge over the Nile in Cairo, Egypt. A team from the International Monetary Fund left Egypt on Tuesday without securing broad backing from the country's opposition for the government's economic plan, suggesting that a key $4.8 billion loan request still hinges on austerity measures that threaten to unleash more political turmoil. Half of the country's 85 million people live at or below the poverty line of $2 a day and rely on government subsidies of wheat and fuel for survival. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File) | Amr Nabil

CAIRO (AP) — A team from the International Monetary Fund left Egypt without getting broad backing from the opposition for a government economic plan aimed at getting a key $4.8 billion loan, political blocs said Tuesday.

Egypt’s main factions say they agree in principle on the need for the loan, seen as a lifeline for the country’s battered economy, but there are concerns over unrest if painful austerity measures linked to it are not backed by political consensus.

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