Tough costs ‘needed’

CAIRO: Egypt’s President AbdelFatah el-Sissi has defended his government’s latest austerity measures aimed at rebuilding the country’s ailing economy, amid a wave of arrests since his re-election.

The government has raised the price of electricity and piped drinking water as part of an economic reform programme designed to qualify for a three-year $12 billion (R158bn) bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund.

“We have to pay the price together,” El-Sisi said this week. – AP