Egyptians feel the economic pinch of protest

CAIRO: There is no money at the banks. Fuel is scarce. Tourism is evaporating.

As a popular uprising to oust President Hosni Mubark enters its second week, Egyptians are feeling the economic pinch.

Banks have been shut since Sunday, and they remained so on Tuesday, the day that protesters hope will see a million-strong demonstration in Cairo to demand an end to Mubarak's regime.

Many automatic teller machines (ATM) in the teeming capital have run out of cash, and those still working were dispensing only a limited number of banknotes.

"I scoured the city in search of an automatic teller and I found only one place -- in a neighbourhood where people do not normally use ATMs," said Mohamed, a driver.

In Cairo, supermarkets that usually accepted credit cards insisted on cash instead, an AFP journalist said, while crowds flocked to grocery stores in several neighbourhoods to stock up on essentials.

Many gas stations were closed, with long lines at those that were still open. The Chamber of Commerce in Cairo appealed to shopkeepers on Monday to reopen, but most ignored the call.

A call for an indefinite general strike was issued on Monday, but it was hard to assess its impact, given the large numbers of businesses that had already shut their doors due to security worries.

Some kiosks complained of an early shortage of cigarettes, in a country with a large number of smokers and relatively cheap tobacco. Top-up cards for mobile phones were also running short.

Responding to growing fears of shortages, the authorities declared that Egypt still has sufficient stocks of food, including wheat reserves, to feed itself until June.

Tourism, a crucial source of foreign revenue, has been hit hard by the uprising in which at least 125 people have died and thousands injured since it began last Tuesday.

This is high season for the tourist industry, with Europeans escaping their winter for sunshine by the Red Sea and the River Nile, but many tour operators have suspended departures and leisure bookings have dried up.

With 14.7 million visitors in 2010 and revenues estimated at about 13 billion dollars, tourism is an important source of income for Egypt, a developing nation with an estimated 20 percent living under the poverty line.

Some foreign firms have suspended their activities, such as the Danish shipping and oil concern A.P. Moeller-Maersk, the French cement manufacturer Lafarge and Japanese automaker Nissan.

Egyptair cancelled all domestic and international flights between 3 p.m. and 8 a.m. -- the hours of a government-imposed curfew -- starting Monday. Other flight times are to be modified.

The Cairo stock exchange remained shut, but bourses in the Gulf -- where many leading companies have interests in Egypt -- stabilised after being shaken on Sunday by growing concerns about the unrest.

Saudi Arabia's stock market, the largest in the Arab world, closed on Tuesday up 0.56 percent at 6,393.57 points, while second-ranked Kuwait fell 0.79 percent to 6,805.2.

Standard and Poors meanwhile lowered its debt ratings for Egypt, a day after a similar move by Moody's, saying ongoing instability "will hamper Egypt's economic growth and adversely affect its public finances."

In Singapore, International Monetary Fund director (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the situation in Egypt could be have been expected in any country with high unemployement.

"Now the question is how to rebuild this... and of course the IMF is ready to help in defining the kind of policy that could be put in place."