People rest as they wait to break their fast at a charity table, during the holy month of Ramdan, near Tahrir square in Cairo
CAIRO: Egypt’s central bank has received $2bn in Saudi funds, the latest instalment of a $12bn Arab aid package to help the new government shore up a crumbling economy after the removal of Islamist Mohammed Mursi as president on July 3.
Egypt’s finances, in havoc from political strife since the 2011 popular uprising, worsened in the first five months of 2013, with the budget deficit widening to almost half of all state spending.
Foreign reserves fell to $14.9bn in June, representing less than the three months of imports that the International Monetary Fund considers to be a minimum safe cushion. Only about half of the reserves are in the form of cash or in securities that can be spent easily. The mounting distress pushed Mursi to approve a 24.2 percent increase in borrowing to finance the budget deficit days before he was deposed, a law published in the official gazette yesterday showed. REUTERS
