December 20th, 2010 by Evan

Lahcen Achy, resident scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, has a piece at Babylon and Beyond outlining “immediate threats” to stability in Egypt. Inflation, a failed tax system, youth unemployment, rising poverty rates, and widespread corruption all challenge the Mubarak regime’s narrative that Egypt’s economy has improved recently. Achy adds that reform will not be possible without “a fairly elected parliament and a government that people can trust.” Further attempts to fix Egypt’s economy under the current political system will likely accomplish little and may “lead to more troubled times ahead.”

Reuter’s Alistair Lyon has a new report documenting Egypt’s declining influence in the Arab world. In recent years, Egypt has remained static, Lyon writes, while other countries in the region—most notably Turkey, Iran, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates—have taken steps forward economically and politically. Egypt’s stagnation is largely a result of domestic issues. Lyon reports that “political challenges sucks up much energy, while corruption and an inert bureaucracy have hollowed out institutions and undercut economic reform efforts.”

Posted in Egypt, Reform |