An Egyptian flag is placed next to the flag of the Freedom and Justice Party at the party headquarters in Cairo, 2011. The party belonging to the powerful Muslim Brotherhood slammed the "failure" of the military-appointed government, and renewed its call for a national consensus cabinet. © Odd Andersen - AFP/File
Egypt Islamists slam government failure
Last updated: February 21, 2012
The party belonging to the powerful Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday slammed the "failure" of the military-appointed government, and renewed its call for a national consensus cabinet.
"Egypt still suffers increasing economic and security crises which confirms the failure of the current government," the Freedom and Justice Party said in a statement.
Maintaining the cabinet of Prime Minister Kamal Ganzuri "shows a clear desire to transfer more crises to any future government," it said.
The FJP, which won a crushing victory in recent parliamentary elections, stressed "the need to form a national consensus government that expresses the choice of the Egyptian people in the legislative elections."
The Brotherhood has recently called for the government to be sacked, saying it should govern.
In the statement, the FJP also reiterated its "rejection" of the government's acceptance of a loan from the International Monetary Fund.
"Looking for painkillers to fix economic problems raises many questions," said the FJP.
It said the country could rely on many of its financial resources "before resorting to foreign loans."
Egypt's finance minister said his government would sign a memorandum of understanding with the IMF in March for a previously spurned $3.2 billion loan, state media reported on Sunday.
The loan would be paid in three installments, the first as soon as the agreement is signed, he added.
Egypt had turned down the loan last year, saying it did not want to add to its foreign debt, but reconsidered as its economy plummeted and much of the promised aid from Arab and Western donors did not materialise.
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