Sunday, October 30, 2016

Egypt is in turmoil

Since the Mubarak regime fell due to the so called Arab Spring, Egypt has been in a turmoil all of the time. First it was the so called promised Muslim Brotherhood who rode it like a shining armor to fix the Egyptian economy but when they failed to deliver that promise and become absolved in its own power, the Military came in which is still in power. Initially people love the Military and they thought that it would be their salvation (and they still do) but now it seems that the Military is also incapable to handle the daily problems of the Egyptian people as I read that poverty still grips more than 90 million of Egyptians. Initially Saudi Arabia came to the rescue to pump in billions of dollars to keep the economy afloat, but with their own economies in bad shape due to the low oil prices, Egypt is looking for somewhere else to feed its people. Now after the downing of the Russian Jet which killed hundreds of people and tanked the Egyptian tourism economy, the government has turned to IMF to replenish its reserve and in return has agreed to devalue its currency and cut its subsidies on essential items. And if this is not enough, Egypt has been battling an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula. The IMF deal is a temporary fix to buy the government some time to fix the economy but unless there is major investment in the country and political stability, Egypt will continue to see upheaval in the future.

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