"Forward" - ‘Brotherhoodization’ of Egypt jeopardizes economy.

"Forward" - ‘Brotherhoodization’ of Egypt jeopardizes economy.(AA).Two years after a pro-democracy uprising, Egypt resembles a rickety bus rolling towards a cliff, its passengers too busy feuding over blame to wrench the steering wheel to safety.
Foreign exchange reserves are dwindling. Tourism is moribund. Investment is at a standstill. Subsidized diesel fuel and fertilizer are in short supply, while the cost of subsidies is swelling the budget deficit unsustainably.
The Egyptian pound has lost 14 percent of its value since the 2011 revolt. Dollars are scarce. An IMF loan that could unlock wider aid is on hold. Unemployment is rising. Public security has deteriorated, and arms smuggling is rife.
With little regard for the looming economic cliff, politicians in the most populous Arab nation are trading blows over an Islamist-tilted constitution, political violence and an alleged power grab by the Muslim Brotherhood.
To President Mohamed Mursi and his supporters in the Freedom and Justice Party, the Brotherhood’s political arm, this is just a tough home stretch in Egypt’s delayed transition to democracy.
With the strongest national machine, they confidently expect to win parliamentary elections in April or May, completing their conquest of the new democratic institutions, then set about reforming the country along conservative Islamic lines.
“We are going through a bottleneck,” said Essam Haddad, the president’s national security adviser.
“We’d like to get through this bottleneck as quickly as possible, and without cracking the bottle.”
Cash injections from Qatar, the Brotherhood’s main foreign backer, are holding the country’s head just above water, and Haddad says a big informal economy will keep Egypt going.
Others are less sure. U.S. ambassador Anne Patterson warned this month that the dearth of foreign currency could cause food and fuel shortages and put social stability at risk in a country where two-fifths of the population lives on less than $2 a day.
Contacts with the International Monetary Fund continue by telephone and email, but there is no sign of an IMF mission returning to Egypt to conclude a $4.8 billion loan agreement vital to stabilize the economy.
The IMF demanded in December that Egypt amend its economic adjustment program to qualify for the loan. Diplomats say an IMF deal could unlock up to $12 billion in funding from a range of sources including the World Bank, the European Union, the United States and Gulf Arab countries.
Haddad made clear the government would not risk implementing before polling day the unpopular subsidy cuts and austerity measures required by the global lender.
“It is very well known by the IMF that nobody would do such an action just before the elections,” he said. “However, our message is very clear. These reforms are essential for the economic recovery. There is no other choice.”
The opposition intelligentsia in Cairo and young street activists who spearheaded the anti-Mubarak uprising and feel their revolution has been confiscated, denounce what they call a growing “Brotherhoodization” - a drive to infiltrate and control all institutions.
Dan Kurzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Cairo now teaching at Princeton University, said Egypt was only in “round three of a 15-round heavyweight contest.”
Among the players in the ring, he sees the Brotherhood, the military, the internal security forces, the revolutionary street, and what he called “the fourth heavyweight - old regime loyalists who may be off balance, in jail or in exile but who will be energized if the economy collapses.”Hmmmm.......Egypt seems for sale to the highest bidder....thanks to the Muslim Brotherhood and the Obama Admin....... I can't help wondering if the IMF doesn't come over the bridge will Morsi accept the money Ahmadinejad proposed?Read the full story here.