Egypt’s on-off talks with the International Monetary Fund may be back on again, as investors say IMF loans offer a stronger platform for reviving the economy than the Gulf money currently keeping it afloat.
Even with signs of a recovery in tourism and investment, the gap between Egypt’s foreign currency receipts and needs may reach $15 billion a year by 2017, said Jason Tuvey, a London-based analyst at Capital Economics. Support from Gulf Arab countries is “keeping strains in its balance of payments contained,” but it’s “not a long-term solution,” he said.
