Egyptian economy in free fall under Islamists

[hab...@anony.net]

Just as the Taliban did in Afghanistan , this kind of non
existent cruel Allahs rule the economy will collapse and people start
to flee , some never learn

excerpt


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/16/egypt-worst-economic-crisis-1930s

Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011, Egypt has experienced a
drastic fall in both foreign investment and tourism revenues, followed
by a 60% drop in foreign exchange reserves, a 3% drop in growth, and a
rapid devaluation of the Egyptian pound. All this has led to
mushrooming food prices, ballooning unemployment and a shortage of
fuel and cooking gas � causing Egypt's worst crisis, said Amin,
"without fear of making a mistake, since the 30s".

"Nobody cares about the poor now," Amin said. During comparable crises
in the late 1960s, the mid-70s and the late 80s, Amin and Radwan
argued that Egypt's poorest were variously shielded from absolute
hardship either by state subsidies, overseas aid, comparatively low
unemployment, or by remittances from expatriates in the Gulf states.
But now one in four young Egyptians is unemployed, household
remittances are low, and there is a shortage of subsidised goods.

"You are talking about nearly half of the population being in a state
of poverty," said Radwan, a development economist. "Either in absolute
poverty or near-poor, meaning that with any [economic] shock, like
with inflation, they will fall under the poverty line." Currently,
25.2% of Egyptians are below the poverty line, with 23.7% hovering
just above it, according to figures supplied by the Egyptian
government.

For most Egyptians, rising food prices are the most critical problem.
Some goods have doubled in price since last autumn � catastrophic for
the quarter of families that already spend 50% of their income on
food.

For Hoda Goma, a Cairo architect, the situation is having a serious
effect on her two eight-year-old sons. "They're getting worse at
school," she said. "They're getting ill more often. They have these
black patches under their eyes and their teeth have got worse."


A currency exchange in Cairo. The value of the Egyptian pound has
fallen by 12% against the dollar since December. Photograph: Khaled
Desouki/AFP/Getty Images
It is down to their diet, Goma explained. She cannot afford to feed
them what they need. Six months ago she spent half her salary on food.
Now she says it is closer to four-fifths � not because she is earning
less, but because rising food prices show no sign of slowing down.

"Prices are on fire," said grocer Walid Ali. Just last week, Ali would
buy a kilo of mandarins for four Egyptian pounds � or 40 British pence
� from wholesalers, and sell them for six (60 British pence). "Now I
buy them for six and sell them for eight."

As a result, consumers are either buying less, or not buying at all.
"It's impossible," said Ali. "I've lost half my customers. People can
only afford to buy basic foods." At his two-storey market in central
Cairo, the top floor is now entirely empty. Neighbours said all
stall-holders on the upper level had been forced to close in recent
months.

Inflated food prices are not a new phenomenon in a country that is the
world's biggest importer of wheat, where the population has long risen
more rapidly than production, and where up to half of the produce rots
in the heat on the way to market. But the recent rate of inflation has
been significantly raised by Egypt's disastrous economic predicament.