Titanic on the Suez canal

12 March 2013 By Una Galani Follow @ugalani

The Muslim Brotherhood has failed to protect the fragile economy, let alone boost it. The country is gripped by shortages, aid options are narrowing and no date is set for parliamentary elections. The longer Cairo delays an IMF deal, the greater the social and financial risks.

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Qatar on March 11 dampened expectations that the Gulf emirate would soon provide more aid funds to Egypt. “We already announced $5 billion”, Qatari Finance Minister Youssef Kamal told Reuters. Asked whether Doha expected to provide more, he replied: “Not yet.”
Separately, Egypt is studying an offer for a bridging loan from the International Monetary Fund, a finance ministry source said on March 11, adding that no decision had yet been made.
The so-called Rapid Financing Instrument could provide Egypt with around $750 million.
Inflation rose to 8.2 percent in February from 6.3 percent the previous month.
In the current financial year, the country is targeting a fiscal deficit of 189.7 billion Egyptian pounds ($28 billion) or 10.9 percent of GDP.
Egypt had foreign currency reserves of $13.5 billion at the end of February.

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