Egypt's currency fell to a record low, trading at over 52 to the US dollar on Sunday, as the economic fallout of the war in the Middle East hits the region's most populous country.The US-Israeli war on Iran has expanded across the Gulf and beyond, upending global energy markets and trade, and virtually halting traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's crude oil travels.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi last week warned that the country was in a "state of near-emergency", warning of renewed inflationary pressures.
Despite Egypt not having been directly hit by the war, the fighting has nonetheless pushed some shipping companies away from its Suez Canal, a key source of foreign currency.
Egypt's import-dependent economy has proved highly sensitive to currency fluctuations in the past.
Inflation -- 11.9 percent in January -- peaked at nearly 40 percent in August 2023, on the back of a punishing economic crisis that has since eased, thanks in part to an over $50 billion bailout, mainly from the United Arab Emirates.
