Egypt reaches $3bn IMF loan deal after agreeing to float currency

The IMF said it had reached a $3bn loan deal with Egypt after Cairo agreed to a key bailout condition and floated its currency.

The Egyptian pound slid 14.5 per cent to 23 to the US dollar on Thursday after the country’s central bank said it was moving to a “durable flexible exchange rate regime that leaves the forces of supply and demand to determine the value of the Egyptian pound against other currencies”.

This means abandoning…