Egypt is facing financial crisis, says finance minister

Egypt is facing a financial crisis that only foreign funding could help alleviate in the short term, Minister of Finance Hazem al-Beblawy said on Tuesday.

“We need liquidity now,” Beblawy said in a press conference at the ministry featuring a panel of experts.

The minister said that Egypt has nearly exhausted its ability to borrow internally, calling into question whether the country's financial institutions were capable of financing the coming period.

According to the report, as 2011 dragged on, the IMF revised its forecasts on growth in MENA oil-importing countries. They predicted that Egypt’s growth would be stunted at around 1.5 percent this year and under 2 percent in 2012.