A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Finance Minister: Egypt's Economy Has Lost $3.5 Billion

The Egyptian Revolution and continuing labor unrest and strikes have cost Egypt's economy at least US $3.5 billion, according to Finance Minister Samir Radwan. Some $2.2 billion of that is in lost tourism revenues. In addition, foreign direct investment, originally estimated at $7 billion for the fiscal year ending in June, is now estimated at $3 to $4 billion.

Egypt's economic problems were ironically a main trigger of the protests, but during thr uncertaintes of the present transitional period, things may well  get worse before they get better.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Too bad for the Egyptians who were actually fighting for a better economy too. It's not surprising to see that one of their main source of revenue, the tourism sector has been affected as well by this crisis. I am curious to see how the new government will set up new measures to improve this situation.