Egypt, Syria and Turkey: The Lepers with the Fewest Fingers

by David P. Goldman

With the financial news focused on the unraveling of Europe’s state finances, the mounting economic catastrophe in the Muslim world has barely merited a mention. Egypt and Syria are about to go over a cliff, while Turkey, supposedly the poster boy for Islamic success, faces a nasty economic reversal — not a catastrophe of Egyptian proportions, but sufficient to destroy Tayyip Erdogan’s reputation as an economic wizard and make his fractious country hard to govern. The so-called Arab Spring will end with no winners, only losers.


Egypt: Two Months Import Coverage, and Falling

Egypt’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $36 billion before the February uprising. The central bank claims that it still has $22 billion on hand, but an analysis by the Royal Bank of Scotland reported by the Financial Times puts the true number at just $13 billion, or two months’ import coverage for a country that imports half its caloric consumption. The central bank has lost $23 billion of the $36 billion in the past ten months, the RBS analysis concludes. Adds the FT:

Even that’s not the end of the story. First half 2011 balance of payments figures showed a deficit of $10.3bn in a period when the central bank actually lost $17.6 bn in liquid and other foreign currency assets, says Agha.


So hard currency is going into capital flight and into the proverbial mattress. Egyptians are even hoarding Egyptian currency, with the level of currency in circulation growing dramatically this year at an annual rate of 25 per cent, compared with 13 per cent previously.

Read more at: PJMedia.com

Don't forget to read the comments of "Islamist in Londonistan, Saudi Britannia, Eurabia". They provide a very educational insight in the though processes of a fan/member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Probably one of those "wonderful, totally integrated Muslims" who lives in the West: profiting, scheming and biding his time until the moment we infidels are ripe to be converted, subjugated and/or killed...

(or one of those brave souls who is trolling, trying to wake up his countrymen who are still blind to the evils of the "religion of peace")