Egypt's Failing Economy Is Sisi's Fault

The International Monetary Fund is riding to Egypt's rescue. On Thursday it announced that its staff had recommended a three-year loan package of $12 billion, which is expected to be boosted with many more billions from the Arab Gulf states. Egypt, mired in an economic slump with high unemployment and rising inflation, certainly needs the help. But if recent history is any guide, it's likely to be good money thrown after bad.

The government of Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, the former general who seized power from an elected Islamist government three years ago, has already received tens of billions in aid. You'd hardly know it from looking at the economy. The official jobless rate is around 13 percent, and the figure for young Egyptians is more than double that. The country has a trade deficit of 7 percent of gross domestic product and a budget deficit of 12 percent of GDP. (Tunisia, which has struggled with similar problems since the Arab Spring, has held its budget deficit to 4.4 percent.)