CAIRO: Economic reform seems to be of late the number one priority of the government, which is natural considering the majority of the new government come from a business background. Economic decisions taken or not will have a profound effect on the average citizen. The Daily Star Egypt was curious to see how economic reform is being perceived by Egypt's citizens. I might trust the new decisions but not the old ones. This is because corruption was the decision maker before. But now, since the economy is approaching a collapse that may lead to unveil this corruption, they are working hard to fix the situation so as to cover up what happened before.Mohammed Abdoul Allah, medical student. No good economic decision was taken in its right time. Most of our decisions were taken for the benefit of a small known group, not for the whole community. There are also lots of unconstitutional taxes and we still have to pay them. I believe that there is no hope.Ahmad Saher, engineer. I believe in a government, most of whom are businessmen; the decisions and initiatives they will take should be good for the economy. I do trust privatization, for instance. It will release the government's solid grasp over the industrial and economic sectors; in addition to that it will decrease the corruption in any governmental organization. The decision to decrease car duties made 2005 the best year ever in selling cars. We are on the right path. Islam, postgraduate engineering student. There are some good decisions, but there are still some others that I can t understand, like floating the pound. The exchange price of the U.S. dollar went so high and most of the goods also went high because of that. But why, then, when the U.S. dollar exchange went down, did all of the goods prices stay the same? It is a governmental mistake even if it was primarily the merchants mistake. The government should have methods to control market prices. Actually, the Egyptian economy is incomprehensible but we should be optimistic.Ayman Mohammed, PR There is no economy in Egypt. The public sector is being sold, the private sector is going bankrupt, many companies are done with the market, the dollar is going up and down and the unemployment rate is unbelievably high. Do you think that this is an atmosphere for a trustful economy?Laila, student. Prices went up and salaries are still the same; I can t feel the effect of any good economic decision on my life. Instead, what I feel are the bad repercussions that reflect bad decisions, such as the increase in the price of the U.S. Dollar.Omayma, housewife. I believe that such decisions will help the Egyptian economy, but its effect will not be in the near future. I am happy with privatization for instance, but still I can t believe the prices of the sold companies. They are much less than their real value. Many people disagree with the QIZ agreement. Although I am not happy with the Israeli part, I do agree with it and I see it as a very good opportunity to help a collapsing industry. Generally speaking, Nazif's government is economically wiser than any other former governments.Hosam Abdoul Allah, accountant. We had a lot of haphazard decisions that negatively affected many people s lives. Floating the Egyptian pound, the sudden closure of the duty free markets in Port Said and the selling of the public sector for low prices are examples of these decisions. Hager Al Said, Physician.
