Hoping to restore the confidence of foreign investors, Egypt announced an initial agreement Thursday to borrow $12 billion over three years from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), joining Iraq, Tunisia and Jordan in taking money from the Washington-based fund. 

Bloomberg said on Sunday that the influx of capital offers an opportunity to restore economic stability in the region.

The fund faces many of the challenges it encountered when it lent to Egypt and other countries decades ago, such as poor governance and public resistance to belt-tightening.