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Egypt Faces Post-Revolution Economic Crisis

(Los Angeles Times) David Schenker - In the four months since the revolution, Egypt's EXG30 stock index has plunged 22%. Tourism in March fell 60% from the year before, resulting in a drop in revenue to $352 million from $1 billion and a loss of jobs. The arrival of about 300,000 workers fleeing Libya will add to the unemployment rate. Foreign capital is fleeing as purges of Egypt's leading entrepreneurs and industrialists are spooking would-be investors. Foreign reserves are down from $36 billion on the eve of the revolution to $28 billion. Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Nasr, a member of the governing Supreme Military Council, warned that the state's reserves would be depleted within six months. The writer is director of the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2011-06-02 00:00:00
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