Egypt Is Faced With Two Choices: Bread Riots Or Bankruptcy

Bread Riots Or Bankruptcy: Egypt Faces Stark Economic Choices -- Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor

Egypt needs IMF money to stay afloat, but the international lender is demanding tough subsidy cuts from an already-embattled government.
It was a perilous time for Egypt. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was demanding subsidy cuts in exchange for a loan Egypt's leaders desperately wanted. So they complied, cutting subsidies on the bread, cooking fuel, and gasoline average citizens relied on to live.

Within hours, workers were pouring off the docks in the Suez Canal zone and Alexandria and out of the factories in the Nile Delta, and attacking symbols of the government everywhere – furious about the sudden rise in the price of daily staples.

In Cairo's Tahrir Square, angry youth tore up sidewalks to hurl stones at riot police when they ran out of Molotov cocktails; the police responded with tear gas and baton charges. By the time the smoke cleared, at least 80 Egyptians were dead in the worst rioting the country had witnessed in a generation.

The Egyptian government restored the subsidies.

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More News On Egypt's Economic Crisis

Egypt expects IMF loan agreement in two weeks -- Reuters
Fuel Fights Expose Egypt’s Depleted Cash as Mursi Seeks Loan -- Bloomberg Businessweek
As Egypt Negotiates IMF Loan, Food And Fuel Prices Soar -- NPR
Subsidy cuts darken Egypt economic refor

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