An economic constitution has been crafted for a stronger Egyptian economy, reports Ahmed Kotb The deteriorating condition of Egypt's economy post-25 January Revolution and its mismanagement during the 30-year- rule of the ousted president Hosni Mubarak, led many experts to start early on thinking of the best way to overcome the existing problems and to achieve a prosperous economy. "The economic constitution has taken more than five months of hard work by 56 university professors," said Khaled Hanafi, chairman of the editorial board of the economic constitution, during a press conference held by the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FECC) early this week. Hanafi added that the constitution aims to help Egypt's successive governments in the process of economic reform which should primarily target reducing poverty rate to 15 per cent initially. Other objectives include reducing the country's budget deficit to four per cent instead of around 10 per cent last year, increasing the economic growth rate to seven per cent in order to double the gross domestic product per capita in a span of 10 years, as well as reducing unemployment rate to reach six per cent as opposed to last year's 12 per cent through the creation of 900,000 annual job opportunities. According to the economic constitution, creating those jobs requires estimated annual investments of LE65 billion, which the country cannot, currently, afford to raise. In order to reach these goals in less than 10 years, Hanafi noted, a number of short-term actions should be taken immediately. "The number one priority now is restoring full security in the streets," he stressed, adding that other actions should include promoting local and foreign investments by facilitating laws and procedures for the investors in addition to removing any existing obstacles, making sure that the Central Bank and other commercial banks never stop working in order to ensure fast transfers and prevent any obstructions in trade operations. Furthermore, Hanafi said, the government should make an announcement about some monetary policies that encourages investments and production because both are considered the only solution for the current economic crisis of Egypt. "New jobs must be created, and that can only happen by attracting more investments," said Ahmed El-Wakil, president of FECC, adding that Egypt has a strategic location, human resources, and free trade agreements for a market that can absorb a total of 1.2 billion consumers. Nagwa Samak, a member of the investments and finance committee which helped in drafting the economic constitution, said that the constitution focussed on supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because of their size and important role in the Egyptian economy. "The constitution recommends that non-governmental organisations should participate in financing SMEs along with the government," she stated. SMEs are believed to account for more than 80 per cent of the Egyptian economy. According to the economic constitution, there are some important long-term actions in the process of economic reform. The most important of these is the relocation of population density because all of Egypt's population lives on less than 10 per cent of its land area. "We should make use of the huge land area of Egypt by choosing a number of eligible areas that have growth potential. We hope that the population of Egypt can be distributed to more than 25 per cent of its land area in the near future," Hanafi declared. El-Wakil stressed that the economic constitution should be binding on any government to come and represents the economic trend of Egypt. "It should be adopted along with the political constitution." He also called on the political parties to consider the announced economic constitution in order to reach a final draft that is approved by all parties involved in shaping the future of Egypt.
