A number of political powers and movements are staging a protest on Wednesday in front of the High Court to oppose Egypt's request for a US$4.8 billion loan from the IMF.
The protesters will later march to the Cabinet to protest borrowing policies and the austerity measures the government is planning as the IMF delegation visits Egypt.
The protests come as an IMF delegation arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to resume negotiations concerning the loan that Egypt hopes will resolve the current economic crisis.
The government had signed an initial agreement in November but postponed the final agreement in December due to political turmoil in the country.
The loan agreement is expected to require austerity measures, which could cause further unrest as President Mohamed Morsy already faces heavy criticism for his domestic policies.
The Socialist Popular Alliance Party on Tuesday called for a protest in front of the High Court of Justice at 2 pm, when lawyer Khaled Ali will file a lawsuit against Morsy and the finance minister over the loan.
The party said in a statement that the Cabinet "insists on the same economic policies of the regime of Mubarak, which were [some] of the reasons that triggered the 25 January revolution demanding social justice," and added that the government was ignoring alternatives that would not mean the country’s subservience to the IMF and the World Bank.
The statement added that restoring smuggled funds, stopping privatization, taxing capital revenues, imposing a system of progressive taxation , raising the minimum wage and setting a limit on the maximum wage and increasing budget allocations for education, housing and health were all measures that could lift Egypt out of its crisis but would be rejected by the IMF.
The Popular Current also criticized the government’s attempts to secure the loan and its overall economic policies, saying the conditions attached on the loan would disproportionately affect the poor.
In a statement, the group also said that the loan would force fuel subsidies to be canceled and would raise the price of diesel, in turn causing fares on microbuses, which are used by 70 percent of Egyptians, to go up.
