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Egypt's presidents warns against unrest
 [USA Today] Egypt's Islamist president warned against any unrest that could harm the drive to repair the country's battered economy in his first address before the newly convened upper house of parliament on Saturday, urging the opposition to work with his government.In the nationally televised speech, Mohammed Morsi said the nation's entire efforts should be focused on "production, work, seriousness and effort," now that a new constitution came into effect this week, blaming protests and violence the last month for causing further damage to an economy already in crisis since the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... Morsi denounced those who he said were spreading panic about Egypt's economy, saying the country will "not go bankrupt" and that its banks were healthy, after a rush on dollars the past week. He presented the country's foreign currency reserves, currently at $15 billion, as up slightly from last year, though he acknowledged they were still down dramatically from around $36 billion in 2010. Soon after Morsi's speech, the Central Bank of Egypt warned that foreign reserves were a "critical" minimum level -- that is, the minimum for meeting obligations like international debt and covering the costs of strategic imports. Currency reserves have been sliding as foreign investment and tourism dried up amid the turmoil of the uprising against Mubarak two years ago. Posted by: Fred 2012-12-30 |
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