Egypt's foreign reserve is enough to cover the cost of only three months of imports, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf al-Arabi said on Tuesday.

The cost of Egypt's imports per month is around five billion pounds, the minister said.

To challenge the decline in the country’s foreign reserve, the government will make an urgent plan that will last until the end of June, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported al-Arabi as saying.

This plan will reduce the budget deficit and increase foreign reserves.

During a speech at Cairo International Book Fair, al-Arabi stated the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal was put on hold due to amendments in the cabinet's economic programme.

Egypt expects that talks with the IMF will resume soon, he added.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said last January that the country's foreign reserve dropped to $13.6 billion.