Egypt is launching an appeal to G-7 countries and international finance institutions for $10 billion after the January 25th revolution left the tourism industry and foreign-investment drive in tatters, Finance Minister Samir Radwan told Reuters in an interview published on Thursday (April 14th).

Radwan, an economist who worked for nearly three decades at the International Labour Organisation, is in Washington before a meeting of Finance Ministers where he will "be asking them for help". Radwan said "my immediate priority is to ease the fiscal strains".

The minister said removing subsidies on basic commodities and energy prices is not an option at the moment.