Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete
Bread riots or bankruptcy: Egypt faces stark economic choices
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middl...yInsideMonitor
'It was a perilous time for Egypt. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was demanding subsidy cuts in exchange for a loan Egypt's leaders desperately wanted. So they complied, cutting subsidies on the bread, cooking fuel, and gasoline average citizens relied on to live............................."
Worth a slow read. |
Here's an interested article to add to the queue:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/n...andoning-egypt
Qatar has been supporting Egypt financially, but now appears to be backing off substantially.
Here's a scary set of stats on Egypt's economy, specifically the tourism sector:
12 million visitors(or so at peak)
$12 billion in foreign currency "export income"
12% of Egypt's workforce
A nice, but rough relationship with those 3 stats.
Unfortunately, the numbers have since declined by well over a third.
So that's roughly $4 billion in foreign currency "exports" and 4% additional unemployment.
Lots of folks worried about Syria.....not too many worried about Egypt.
I reckon Egypt is the centre of gravity for much of the Middle East in some ways....particularly Arab language TV/Film/Mass Media.
I reckon Egypt collapses by Xmas.
Those boring Sinai deployments may not be so boring in the near future.
Just my amateur 0.02c