Are the Generals Stealing Egypt?

After public warnings that it faces bankruptcy within a few months, Egypt's central bank has taken firm and decisive action: it has fired all of its outside directors. Al-Ahram reported on October 16 that the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces has cut the number of board members to nine from 15, all appointed by Egypt's president. Six outside directors, five from major banks and one from the accounting firm KPMG, have been dismissed.

It is hard to get reliable data on the state of Egypt's economy, in part because so many things have gone wrong in such a short period of time, and in part because the military government fires officials who report bad news. Egypt's economic route calls to mind the country's military disaster during the 1967 war, when - according to the Egyptian government's later evaluation - the military collapsed in part because of "the army's fear of telling [president Gamal Abdul] Nasser the truth".