econ Ihab Said, a member of the Board of Directors of Securities Brokerage Company and Director of Research, said the Egyptian economy is currently facing grave difficulties. According to Said, the Egyptian government is in an unenviable position because it is suffering from inflation due to the policies of the US Federal Bank, low value of the domestic currency, consequences of the recent events in Egypt, lowered revenue coming from the Suez Canal, and the decline of foreign remittances to Egypt. He said the rise in global inflation rates and the direction of the European Union to tighten monetary policy means a slowdown in growth rates for the Euro, which in turn will reduce the demand for Egyptian exports. Fadia Abdel-Salam, director of the Institute of National Planning, said the expected decline in remittances from Egyptians working abroad will be less than $7 billion by the end of the year 2011. He also said the Egyptian economy is on the threshold of a real crisis, with the decline in foreign exchange reserves to $28 billion in the first months of the current year in comparison with 35 billion at the end of last year.
