The researcher at the Carnegie Middle East Center, Yazid Sayegh said, "Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi does not understand the economy, and despite that, he makes serious decisions, and the proof of that is that he spent billions of pounds of deposit funds in banks to dig the Suez Canal subvert despite the decline in global trade, while the Egyptian Minister of Finance He heard about the project from TV. "
Sayegh added during a discussion on his report, "The Guardians of the Republic ... Anatomy of the Egyptian Military Economy" that Sisi is searching for huge projects for political purposes and making a media aura, and that projects launched by the regime in Egypt represent a steady source of income for the military.
According to the famous researcher and academic who previously worked as a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the Royal College of London, the projects of the administrative capital and the expansion of the Suez Canal were presented to former President Hosni Mubarak in the eighties and he rejected them for their lack of usefulness, yet Sisi places great political hopes on the new administrative capital that Major companies withdrew from it.
"There is an important issue in the development priorities of the Egyptian president, as he is building recreational projects, launching a generation of new cities for the wealthy class, while 32.5% of the people are poor and need support," he added.
Emaar's withdrawal
Regarding the army's dominance of the economy, Sayegh said that Sisi could not force major international companies to accept his conditions for work in the new administrative capital.
He added that the Emirati Emaar Company withdrew from the new administrative capital, because the military insisted on obtaining a percentage of the profits that the company did not accept.
According to Al-Sayegh, the public sector companies in Egypt have been suffering from problems for years, including lack of productivity, waste of resources and economic opportunities, and untapped productive capacity, indicating that the army entered a competitor and dominating the private sector, in addition to a state of competition between the army itself.
A few days ago, Sayegh mentioned in a Middle East Eye article that the Egyptian army for decades allowed him to engage in economic activities as a way to reduce the defense budget, adding that the military economy also allows senior officers to be compensated for low salaries and pensions, by giving them the opportunity to obtain additional income and benefits.
The researcher stated that Sisi has shown public disdain for the civil services in his country, and that he feels that he can trust the army only to carry out any task within the specified time within the budget limits, adding that Sisi does not have an economic vision and does not understand how to create jobs or grow or increase revenue in a sustainable way, The bottom line is that the army is following orders so that if he is asked to go to build a new city in the sand somewhere, this is what will happen.