CAIRO: The Global Prosperity Index issued by Legatum Institute for 2009, put Egypt at number 88 worldwide. Egypt, which had been boasting high economic growth in recent years, recently stumbled in a number of economic reports and over the weekend, Economic Development Minister Othman Mohamed Othman reported the overall poverty levels in Egypt have risen to more than one in five. (see also “Egypt: Economic crisis finally hits?”) The index monitors the levels of prosperity in 104 nations, according to 9 key factors that they argue contribute to promoting economic growth and personal well-being and satisfaction of life. The institute said that the lack of consistency and stability of the regime in Egypt is a “challenge” to the democratic process and the level of political rights and civil liberties is ” very poor.” The index of the Legatum Institute – which is an independent political research center, working to support political, economic and individual freedom in various parts of the world – stressed that in Egypt, there are “no guaranteed rights to participate in the political process and the level of freedom of expression is very weak and therefore Egypt was placed 86th on the measure of political rights.” Egypt also ranked near the bottom in the measure of democracy among the 104 countries surveyed. The index ranked the North African nation at number 88 globally, pointing out that the leaders of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) have “full control of legislation and laws, and that the party has the most executive power and influence … where there are no restrictions on their power.” Legatum Institute added that “although there are multiple political parties in Egypt, the ruling party has the majority of the executive power and due to very few constraints to the power of authority, leaders can force legislation through the system with ease.” It added that regime stability in Egypt is extremely low, “with the last regime change occurring less than five years ago” and the government is weak in the regulation of elections for the legislative branch of government. “However, the Egyptian judiciary is independent of the executive branch,” it added on a positive note. The index, which also included a report and a poll on Egypt, revealed that Egyptian citizens are only able to exercise freedom of speech, movement and religion to a limited extent. In addition, only some one-third of Egyptians believe their city or area is a good place for minorities or immigrants to live. This puts Egypt in the bottom 10 percentile on both accounts. Further still, only 64 percent of Egyptians are satisfied with the freedom they have to choose what to do with their lives, ranking Egypt well below the international average. The report said that 9 out of 10 Egyptian citizens believe that local business is corrupt and that the quality of regulation of commercial and economic activity, as well as the efficiency of governance and bureaucracy, are well below international standards. The study put Egypt 73rd both variables. It pointed out that the freedom of open and fair elections does not exist in Egypt, but the report did state that the Institute “had no definitive data about the fairness and integrity of elections, or the judicial system or government corruption.” The report continued to say that “Egypt scores below global averages on a number of national security variables, facing challenges related to human flight, refugees and groups with a history of discrimination or other grievances against the government. In 2007, there were no casualties due to civil strife or ethnic clashes; however, it was reported that political opponents of the state are subject to torture and imprisonment.” Egypt does score better on personal security, as the homicide rate in the country is low at only one murder per 100,000 people. Legatum reported that 85 percent of Egyptians feel safe walking the streets at night, placing the country in the top 10 on this measure. The index, commenting on the measure of economic fundamentals said that “despite the increase in foreign investment compared to the GDP, the Egyptian worker has no experience in dealing with new technologies, leading to a lower quality of goods and produced services, and that Egypt ranks at number 70 in terms of unemployment.” Egypt ranked low as a result of inflation and the percentage of loans that banks failed to collect reached 25 percent of the total number of loans in 2007. BM
