Egypt has to make hard economic choices, the death toll keeps rising in the occupied West Bank, and the execution of an Iranian official threatens further isolation. Here’s this week’s round-up, written by Danylo Hawaleshka.
The Egyptian pound has certainly seen better days. In less than a year, the currency has lost almost half its value against the dollar. But that’s mainly been a result of meeting the stipulations of a loan issued by the International Monetary Fund to bail out the Egyptian economy to the tune of $3bn. The IMF generally pushes for less economic intervention by government, and in this instance that means allowing the Egyptian pound to fluctuate according to market forces.
