Egypt Falls at First Hurdle to Get $4.8B IMF Loan

As Egypt falls into a Morsi-made crisis by him trying to ramrod an Islamist-designed, next-to-no other public consultation constitution via a hastily called referendum this Saturday, its financial rescue prospects get even cloudier. Public order has gotten even worse than in recent months--which is in turn a marked deterioration from the Mubarak years. I guess the IMF's wish for a broad-based consensus is a pipe dream: How exactly is the current government going to gain any semblance of approval from non-hardline Islamist stakeholders for harsh conditionalities after these constitutional manoeuvrings?

Apparently, Morsi's allies have now decided not to push through with the IMF loan for now since they understand that the opposition will only be stoked further should bitter medicine be forced on the Egyptian people in addition to a constitution only a Muslim Brother could love:

A vital $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan to Egypt will be delayed until next month, its finance minister said on Tuesday, intensifying the political crisis gripping the Arab world's most populous nation. As rival factions gathered in Cairo and Alexandria for a new round of demonstrations, Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said said the delay in the loan agreement was intended to allow time to explain a heavily criticised package of economic austerity measures to the Egyptian people. 

The announcement came after President Mohamed Mursi on Monday backed down on planned tax increases, seen as key for the loan to go ahead. Opposition groups had greeted the tax package, which had included duties on alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and a range of goods and services, with furious criticism. "Of course the delay will have some economic impact, but we are discussing necessary measures (to address that) during the coming period," the minister told Reuters, adding: "I am optimistic ... everything will be well, God willing."

All will be well, Inshallah? The current government is fundamentalist and fantasist at the same time. So much for all that Internet Freedom jibba-jabba about how Egypt was embarking on a new era of digital democracy and that sort of nonsense.

Don't make me laugh.