Egypt’s economy is struggling and it is not hard to see why. Two governments have been overthrown in three years, more than 1000 have died in clashes with security forces since Mohammed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president, was deposed in July and a full-blown insurgency is under way on the Sinai Peninsula. International governments have advised against travel, all-important tourist attractions stand empty, foreign businesses have cut back or suspended operations and investors are running for cover.
Fiscal issues have been mounting since the 2011 popular revolution that toppled ex-president Hosni Mubarak after almost 30 years in power. At the time, foreign reserves in Egypt stood at about $36bn. Earlier this year they dropped as low as $13bn, prompting tough restrictions on the transfer and purchase of foreign currency. Meanwhile, high unemployment and increasing inflation have proved hard to tackle and the Egyptian pound continues to fall against the US dollar.
