The "Freedom and Justice" party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, won almost half of the seats in Parliament (44%) in the first free elections after thirty years of dictatorship. And he wasted no time. Finance Minister Mumtaz al Said said Egypt agreed to a $3,2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund - despite less than a year ago the country had opposed any type of financial aid - and that the signing will be done by the end of March. Also today, the head of the European Commission's macro-financial assistance unit, Heliodoro Temprano Arroyo, said that the EU is considering a 500 million euro loan for Cairo, but only after seeing the signing of the contract with the IMF.
"The 3,2 billion will be granted by the Monetary Fund with an interest of 1,2%“, added Minister al Said, and will be donated in three tranches. To complete the work, funds from Europe could be added, perhaps as a last resort.
However, Egypt had always been opposed to tying its arms towards international institutions. Many citizens see the economic measures taken in recent years, rather than structural reforms, as stratagems that have increased the wallet of many, worsening the situation of the poorest.
Strengthened by many years of work in the area and assistance to the population, the Muslim Brotherhood has decided to make them the cause of many Egyptians. Their priority is to turn the country around economically. Egypt has been in crisis since the beginning of the riots: the public deficit reached 24 billion dollars while international reserves fell to 13,6 billion dollars from 43,7 billion in 2010.
The economy is therefore the new battleground of the Muslim Brotherhood, which until last year was a closed, reactionary, conservative organization, which praised Zionist conspiracies and accused entrepreneurs of bringing perversion into the country through foreigners in bikinis . Today religion has faded into the background. All that remains is to hope that the turn towards pragmatism is not equally fundamentalist.
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