READER COMMENTS

The main candidates did not make new proposals to revive the economy. With regard to the issue of the new government, following the Egyptian presidential elections it would be capable of putting forward economic policies to push the economic development and social stability. This would be under observation because the Egyptian economy witnessed quick leaps few years ago, but they resulted in serious problems such as the increase of the gap between the poor and the rich, which was one of the main problems behind the eruption of 25 January Revolution last year. After the revolution, the transitional Egyptian government made economic measures and policies represented in raising the huge subsidies in the field of food and energy to alleviate the suffering of the citizens and use of the foreign reserves in an attempt to protect the stability of the exchange rate. These measures led to the increase in the budget deficit and serious decline in the reserves of the hard currency to increase the difficulties that face the people in their life. All this takes place amidst Egyptian and Arab popular anticipation of the results of the elections and the ability of the candidates to win the second round of the presidential battle.

The Egyptian people focus on the argument whether the presidential elections would be a start for the economic revival or not! The Egyptian elections come amidst very difficult conditions in light of the determination of the economic situation after the severe economic losses that followed the change of the regime and the increase of the social chaos since the beginning of the last year. The commercial movement in Egypt is affected from time to time as a result of the turbulence. The unemployment rates increase and the number of tourists and foreign financing as well as the foreign reserves decrease. The Egyptian economic situation witnessed remarkable deterioration compared with the last years.

Egypt needs a comprehensive economic change or what might be called an economic revolution which takes into consideration the redistribution of wealth on sound societal bases. Besides, the mode of production must be changed and economic production must be prioritized. The fact that the Egyptian banks are financing their projects by Egyptians’ money is not reasonable at all. These are consumer projects based on rapid profit and they do not benefit the citizens. Moreover, the State should assume its main role which consists in financing the major industrial projects. Indeed, achieving an economic revival requires a long-term strategic planning, which cannot be undertaken by the Private Sector. Major countries including the United States dominate the large and strategic industries in the majority of the world regions. They contribute a great deal to all projects and big companies.

The Egyptian citizen suffers from very difficult conditions and unavailability of money as well as the increase in the poverty rates significantly because of the economic deterioration and decline of the government’s control over the markets and the industry as well as the control of the public sector over these affairs. Furthermore, the industries that are being produced in Egypt are not important and they are not advanced, but they are simple industries that cannot compete with the international industries to be exported and to boost the economy of the state. The government has to move to support the economy and develop the industry, because developing the industrial sector will lead to economic renaissance and save the citizen from the troubles in Egypt.

There are two viewpoints about the economic situation in Egypt. The first is very optimistic and expects that Egypt will flourish and achieve economic growth. The other opinion is pessimistic and it sees that the county is about to declare bankruptcy. The first opinion is based on the first point of all revolutions that eliminated the corrupt regimes that did not do anything for thirty years and made the rich people richer and the poor people poorer. Hence, the collapse of the regime and its men means that the conditions will be much better.

The Government of Egypt and the Egyptian people will determine, by themselves, the economic policies that suit their country the best in order to overcome the ongoing transitional period. Besides, the International Monetary Fund could help Egypt through providing the necessary advice in technical aspects and policy issues. It is supposed to support the Egyptian authorities in their quest to overcome the challenges of the short and medium term in order to achieve a greater overall growth. The IMF has international experience in this regard. In fact, the imports of Egypt do not meet its huge population and the significant services to be provided to citizens. Therefore, the Government must look for investments that could benefit the country. Otherwise, the IMF will keep ready to give a helping hand to Egypt based on its assessment of its financial needs. If ever Egyptian authorities decide to ask for financial support, the national economy will prosper.

The current chaos which the country is undergoing has led to inflation and ever increasing prices in a way that has affected everyone. However, those with limited income and unemployed individuals have incurred the biggest impact. There are numerous companies announcing bankruptcy and many businesses and stores are closing down due to the current bad economy in Egypt. This was discussed during the meeting with the head of the supreme military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. He mentioned that Egypt is currently experiencing a dangerous economic condition, adding that the flow of direct foreign investment into the country is almost zero. Likewise, the country’s credit rating is in the danger zone, which is a negative indicator that cannot be accepted in the current situation. The country lacks stability and is witnessing widespread chaos since the aftermath of last year’s revolution. There are some individuals who inadvertently spread these conditions, coupled with the decline of the economy. For instance, there was a campaign announced earlier by some individuals, which is the so called strike or civil disobedience. If that campaign went ahead with its strike, the country would have gone from a bad situation to a crisis. Thank god, honest Egyptians abandoned that campaign, but there are still some merchants who withhold and hide some of the commodities in large amounts. They then sell these commodities at prohibitive prices when these items are sold out and none remains in the markets. The reason behind such behavior is lack of monitoring in the recent times, giving them and others the chance to exploit lose control and cheat people. The bad economic conditions in Egypt makes some people unable to afford meat and poultry. They settle for just bread and soup, and they are thankful to the Lord.

I see that Egypt is divided into three classes; rich, middle and poor. Hence, we can easily conclude that there are thieves who steal and there are people who are being robbed. This is my opinion and I see that the economy in Egypt became so fragile because there is no patriotic government, which works efficiently and monitors any violations that may occur to punish those who are responsible for them, so that the officials realize that their work affects the life of the poor people as we experience today. This stage will continue for a long period and for many years. However, the presidential elections gave hope to the people that the coming president will restore the security and stability in Egypt and then comes the requirements of any state. The president will be chosen by the people and he will be in the spotlight because the people will not allow the thieves to steal again in front of their eyes, and no one could even utter a single word. Even if he reported the violations to the authorities, nothing would be proved. Thanks to God, all that happened in Egypt since the revolution of 25th of January until today is good, especially the right to vote.

What I see now in the Egyptian economy including the dramatically high and rising prices is an obstacle and a crisis for the citizens, especially the low-income people in Egypt. If we see that the rich is affected let alone the poor. The prices are now rising and this situation has completely destroyed the lives of millions of poor people whose purchasing abilities of their incomes kept declining over the past years but this blow was fatal and was reflected immediately on a number of staff for their inability to meet the needs of their families with the coming of the school season or the Eids seasons and other occasions and the reason for this, which was provided by the Egyptian government to explain what is happening, is the rise in the world prices.

After the fall of the former regime and the cleansing campaign that is currently taking place, which affected most of the symbols of this regime, especially Mubarak, his family and his close entourage, and the attempts to disengage the illegal relationship between the authority and the businessmen that are underway, an important question is raised, which is, what is the identity of the economic system in Egypt now, especially after the suspension of working with the Constitution and its real repeal after the amendments that have been asked about recently, which included some of the articles that define the features of the political system, and how to elect the President of the Republic and the passing of a new constitution and the mechanisms of the legislative elections? The judicial supervision of the elections and the constitutional amendments did not address the identity of the economic system in Egypt. In general, we can say that the new government can open the doors of Egypt to foreign companies to make investments in various fields and provide job opportunities for the Egyptians.

Moussa’s program is a new song that was written by the composer of the five-year plans of Suzanne Mubarak and her boys that led to the economic deterioration and eruption of 25th of January 2011. This revolution toppled all the agents of the West, but they returned and try to impose Moussa upon us with force as they involved Farouq because of their obsession with power and wish to loot the Egyptian economy. They exploited all forms of the suppression of the people and the support of the tailored laws as well as Tantawi, who serves as a lash against the interests of the people for the benefit of the classes that robbed Egypt to build villas, lands, and palaces and got billions of dollars turning Egypt at the hands of Moussa and his ilk into a large estate for them where corruption is rampant.

Doctor Mohamed Morsi

God's victory to the Islamists in Egypt - and make Egypt a Muslim country and do not make Egypt liberal, so that immortality and debauchery do not spread!

May God guide the revolutionists! This is enough; we need to work and build Egypt once again. We want security and safety back in Egypt, thanks to the supplication of the Prophet Abraham: "Enter Egypt, if God wills, in safety." -Yusuf 'Joseph': 99. Almighty God says: "Get you down to any township; /some say that it is Egypt/; then surely you will have there what you asked for." -Al-Baqarah: 61. God is the Arbiter of Success!

Hamdin Sabahi

No to the remnants of the National Democratic Party!

The one most fit for this post is Dr. Mohamed Mursi. He will revive the country. I want to ask why they hate the Muslim Brotherhood. I want someone to answer me.

May God end it well and make the consequence good.

We pray to God to give the authority to the best ruler. We pray to the Almighty to keep the future ruler in righteousness and to give him strength to be a strong ruler. Our country needs a very strong ruler right now, strong in righteousness for sure. Thank you!

Taking care of the rights of minorities.

It does not matter who will be the next president of Egypt. What matters is that he has to fear the Lord and to serve his nation with honesty. He has to care about Egypt and Egyptians. We should never see on any day his children or his wife in a public position, like what used to happen with Alaa, Gamal and Suzan Mubarak. There were two old men talking; one of them asked the other: "Who will win the presidential elections, in your opinion?” The second guy answered him saying: “By God, if Sharon were resurrected from his grave and became the president of Egypt, it would not make a difference to Upper Egypt. Thank you! Al-Husseini.

May God lead the Egyptians to choose a president who knows what is permissible and what is forbidden, i.e. the religion, who respects the Islamic and human rights and will lead Egypt to progress, development and prosperity, God willing!

The article is good, but it does not talk objectively about other candidates, like the candidate of the Freedom and Justice Party, Dr. Mohamed Mursi, and about his revival program.

The future of Egypt is suffering because the internal situation and its relationship with the foreign situation have been affected. For instance, the old ideology is still present and we are still suffering from a lot of violations which need a lot of reforms. First of all, we have to reform the Government’s work method which is still following the same old way. In fact, if it remains as such, Egyptians will suffer a lot in the future and will not find someone who will serve their interests. Indeed, a lot of aspects require reforms, namely the economic, agricultural, educational, human rights and public utility services. The most important problem which will face Egyptians is the economy, especially as the Egyptian economy has been suffering from severe blows since the era of the former regime because of the thefts which were carried out by some ex-Government officials. However, this had not had an impact on citizens given that ordinary people care for nothing but getting their basic life needs, although the majority has not been granted this right. In fact, during the revolution, the Egyptian economy lost billions of dollars. This has represented a severe blow and could lead to a possible bankruptcy. For this reason, some economists have made many attempts to somewhat stabilize the Egyptian economy. Actually, it has been brought under control and the danger of bankruptcy has been reduced. The economy is affected by the trade movement in the domestic and international markets. Indeed, the Egyptian revolution has weakened the economy a great deal. This has not been caused by the rebels but because of the crimes of the former regime against this patient people. Thus, the Egyptian economy will improve only if we increase the production power. In this respect, the agricultural and industrial movement must increase in order to raise production in Egypt so that the economy will progress and improve. However, we are hopeful of seeing a clear positive impact on all social classes in Egypt. May Allah protect this country from any evil.

No, no, no, no to Mohamed Mursi. Hamdin Sabahi!

If Egypt remained like this, we will see that Egypt will not change no matter how much time passes. For example, the Egyptian economy is currently suffering from a very severe weakness and in light of the instability that is happening in the country, including sit-ins and the recession that hit many factories and institutions. Since the era of the former regime, the Egyptian economy, whether strong or weak, the Egyptian citizen does not feel its impact because of looting and theft that existed at that time. Egypt has more poor people than rich people, and even the middle class that existed for a time is nearly vanishing. The percentage of unemployment and poverty in Egypt is increasing continuously and the Egyptian citizen has been suffering from them for decades and suffering from the high cost of basic goods and the lack of income due to the lack of employment opportunities. The revolution in Egypt emerged because of the evil of injustice and theft, which occurred in the previous regime. The citizen does not enjoy any of his rights, the Egyptian citizen was not aware of the simple meaning of the word economy in the past, but the Egyptian revolution emerged for three reasons, namely; living, freedom and social justice. The meaning of living is the provision of suitable employment opportunities and the elimination of unemployment, appointment of qualified candidates and keeping away from the use of intermediaries, and giving the opportunity to work to those who deserve it to be able to exercise his daily life normally like the other citizens with freedom.

An image behind the election.

Mohamed Mursi.

I want to find out my election number.

I want to find out the place of the committee.

I want to find out the place of the committee.

God protects Egypt. It is the first time we can vote for the one who deserves it, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shafik.

If we have a strong economy, we will not have unemployment and we will not have crimes.

O God, assign the best for authority.

We have to elect Hamdin Sabahi.

I wish the president who seeks the chair of the presidency would care about the people.

Know your committee.