Cairo - Mubasher: Egypt sees no immediate need to obtain a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to meet its increasing demand for foreign currency, said Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Araby.

The IMF mission’s latest visit to Egypt was to conduct interim review for the country's economic developments and it did not refer to any talks regarding the loan, El-Araby added.

He also said the government is currently studying the different alternatives to meet its needs of foreign currency before it  resorts to the IMF loan.

"The government tends now to focus on covering the financial gap which amounted to around $11 billion to $13 billion, as well as increasing the contribution of the investments in the gross domestic product (GDP)", confirmed the minister.

The financial gap refers to the funds needed to cover the budget deficit and raise the potential investments.

Egypt's talks with the IMF were firstly initiated four years earlier after the popular revolt of 2011, but it was halted since the army takeover in 2014.The country received financial aids from Gulf countries, amounting to nearly $20 billion.