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Wednesday, 31 October 2018

How the Khashoggi case could spell trouble for Egypt’s economy

Stretching for relevance, any kind of relevance: How the Khashoggi case could spell trouble for Egypt’s economy. The spillover effect from the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi serves as a “potential economic risk” for Egypt, Rob Cox writes for Reuters’ BreakingViews. Egypt is heavily dependent on remittances from its expats working in the kingdom, and Saudi visitors comprised a significant chunk of Egypt’s tourist arrivals. “Any fallout, such as U.S. sanctions, from the killing of the Saudi journalists by agents of the Riyadh government could dent Egypt’s recovery. Following a currency devaluation in 2016 and austerity measures, a steady flow of USD from Saudi is critical to buttressing reserves as the Egyptian central bank struggles to reduce inflation and interest rates.” If investors are scared out of KSA as a result of Khashoggi’s death, the ripple effect would be certain to hit Egypt as well, Cox says.

Please don’t get us started. It’s Halloween. All we want is chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.

The Khashoggi case is receding from the headlines, with most notable coverage in recent days including a New York Times op-ed by Obama administration national security advisor Susan Rice calling MbS “a partner we can’t depend on” and the Wall Street Journal suggesting that MbS’ position as crown prince is “appears secure” as “Saudi Arabia’s royal family is closing ranks to protect the monarchy from a storm of criticism.” Meanwhile, former NYT Cairo reporter Kareem Fahim is part of a Washington Post team with a long, solid take in the form of Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is ‘chief of the tribe’ in a cowed House of Saud.

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