"Continued borrowing from the domestic markets is a bankrupt policy, literally," said Ragui Assaad, an Egyptian economist at the University of Minnesota who is now in Cairo.
Even with new sources of foreign currency from the I.M.F., he said, Egypt would soon be forced to capitulate to a further decline in the exchange rate -- gradually, if the government is lucky.
"Of course it is going to hurt," Mr. Assaad said. "But there is going to be no choice but to devalue the currency."
