Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
Hossam Badrawi
The promising young politician said: We thank you for opening a door to a broader dialogue on your Facebook page under the slogan “The future begins every day.. an invitation to participate.” the country’s economy, and how we participate in it.
I said: The second trend of the twelve includes “economic growth” and its sustainability and balance with the creation of employment opportunities. Human development cannot reach its goals without paralleling its economic programs with programs that increase wealth, eliminate poverty and open areas of work for citizens.
Achieving balanced and sustainable growth associated with increasing employment opportunities must be accompanied by giving some priority to the disadvantaged groups of the population without affecting the balance of the state budget, in order to accelerate the achievement of an economic rate of 7% to 8% on average annually for fifteen consecutive years. This is something that can only be achieved by sustaining policies, convincing the people of them, and respecting their philosophy, without retreating or deviating from them with a short-term political public goal.
The balanced growth of the economy in this way and this ratio, on the other hand, cannot also be achieved without the completion and expansion of the infrastructure and public utilities so that they can accommodate this growth, especially roads, transportation, ports and airports, and justice in the full implementation of the law… and above all, the development of capable human beings. To carry the burden and the opportunity for development and the outside of an effective educational system that serves this development.
The young politician said: How do you see the relationship of the government and state institutions to the economy?
I said: My opinion is that the value of the state must be maximized as an organizer and sponsor of justice, equal opportunities and law enforcement, but on the other hand, the state’s control over the economy must be eased, and it should not interfere directly as a competitor in the markets… although the private sector currently absorbs 70% of the workforce and is actually responsible. About more than that of the national income, I still see the desire of some to return to direct and indirect state intervention in the ownership of the production and service sectors.
The state must invest in infrastructure and sectors that stimulate development, such as public education, public transportation, roads and sanitation… and other services that the private sector may not invest in, at the beginning of the development movement. Even in this direction, it must be a facilitator of development so that the investment wheel can revolve, and it is not a substitute for civil society and the business sector.
State ownership and management of companies and factories under the pretext of maintaining a lower-priced product is an illusion we have tried and experienced, not only in Egypt, but in many countries that have historically taken this approach. Experience has proven the failure of governments, even if it appears otherwise in the short term.. in managing investment in the name of the people. Our experiences and the experiences of others have led to the loss of all the people as a result of the continuation of distributing fake profits to workers and employees.. as if we support a class of society at the expense of society. All to prove the success of the theory regardless of the results.
The first young man said: Are there specific sectors that lead the development paths?
I said: There are traditional and modern activities, some of which produce globally tradable services, and others produce local goods and services, and may be the six locomotives capable of creating job opportunities, the first of which are: information and communication technology and associated service exports, the second: labor-intensive and skills-intensive industrial exports , third: unconventional agricultural manufacturing and horticultural crops, fourth: tourism with all its logistical, hotel and cultural activities, fifth: the small and medium business sector in general, and finally: housing and construction, which accommodates about a hundred occupations linked to wide employment and a great economic and social return.
The young man said: What is your main focus when you talk about the economy?
I said: Increasing wealth and eliminating poverty permanently.
Our official statistics from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics say that the poverty rate has increased in the last two decades from 16% to 32%, of which 4% is an increase in the last 3 years, meaning that economic development did not parallel the rate of population increase, which is an important issue in itself. We will talk about it.
My experience confirms the importance of combating illiteracy while combating poverty, and making efforts to create job opportunities instead of just allocating funds to help poor families, but with ensuring that the poor get out of the poverty line and never return to it again.
My note is that all the state’s plans over the years have been talking about reducing the poverty rate, and I am talking about eliminating poverty once and for all, which is a different goal with increasing wealth..
China’s experiences in eliminating poverty can be studied by Egypt. It is mainly embodied in continuing the fight against illiteracy, increasing educational opportunities and solving unemployment challenges, as they are among the most important roots of poverty, in addition to increasing funding and developing projects related to this field.
As for increasing wealth, it is necessary to have a decent education and to attract foreign investments to reach 50 billion dollars annually within 5 years, knowing that it does not currently exceed 5.9 billion dollars outside oil investments, which is less than foreign investment in 2017, which reached To 7.7 billion dollars (central bank figures). The Minister of Investment says that these figures do not include the investments that were injected into the Suez Canal development axis, in addition to the values of the companies’ machinery and equipment.
Here lies the importance of Egypt’s competitiveness, the stability of policies and tax systems, the application of prompt justice, and the governance of state administrations that impede achievement and impede investment.
The young man said: Are there international covenants that can be relied upon so that we do not invent the wheel?
I said: There are international and local experiences that are available and feasible.
The issue is the sustainability of strategies and the accumulation of experiences, as we never finish what we start, do not benefit from our mistakes, and do not analyze our experiences to learn.
In the following link, I will put for you and the readers a strategy for Egypt’s competitiveness, developed and documented by the National Council
