CAIRO: Egypt's finance minister has said the government will complete the revision of its economic reform plan this week and invite the International Monetary Fund to visit Egypt soon, the finance ministry said in a statement released on its website on Monday.

The remarks by Finance Minister Al-Mursi Al-Sayed Hegazy were made on Thursday but published in English on the ministry's website on Monday as a news release, a ministry official said.

Egypt's government signed a preliminary agreement for a $4.8 billion loan from the IMF in November, but the formal signing was delayed after political strife forced it to postpone a number of austerity measures deemed necessary for an agreement.

Egypt was "waiting for concluding the revision of the economic and social reform programme, in light of the developments witnessed in Egypt ... and the recent package of tax amendments."