Securing Citizens’ Needs… Yesterday and Today

International rating agencies recently confirmed that what Egypt has done in the field of economic reform is a very great achievement amid turbulent global conditions, to the credit of the people and the political leadership.

The citizen has not felt a shortage of any needs, foodstuffs or other goods, as all the crises relating to citizens’ needs have been dealt with and treated, including the crisis of the shortage of infant milk, through to the stabilization of the exchange rate, the achievement of positive economic growth rates, the creation of job opportunities in giant national projects and the reduction of the overall deficit.

The world praised the success of Egyptian policies in dealing with and managing the coronavirus crisis, both on the health side and in terms of self-sufficiency in goods, products and services at reasonable prices, in addition to the Egyptian state’s allocation of one hundred billion pounds as a support package for the most affected sectors and groups. At a time when the markets of many other countries and cities were emptied of products and of their citizens’ needs.

Some believe that this talk does not match the reality of the lives of citizens who are still bearing the cost of economic reform and its consequences, and that everyone is struggling and working to achieve the desired hopes and prosperity; others believe that the rating of international institutions is of no use or return as long as the citizen does not feel an improvement in his standard of living; and there are those who believe it is drum-beating for the policies of the state and the government. All are views that deserve respect and analysis.

The people are the true hero and the driving force behind accomplishing the steps of economic reform that have continued over years with unprecedented success.

The Egyptian family is also the crucible that absorbed, with all patience and capacity, all the effects resulting from the reform process, armed with faith in God and with the trust they placed in a leader and president who returned Egypt to the Egyptians from the hands of Brotherhood rule and those behind them.

There is no doubt that the rating of the Egyptian economy by international institutions carries within it indicators of the success achieved, the efficiency of the policies and the pace of achievement at which economic development is proceeding in the country.

As for drum-beating, every patriot has the right to beat the drum, with whatever meanings or intentions it carries; indeed, we must beat the drum for everyone who has worked and contributed to providing and securing the needs of citizens from 2014 until now.

Not to mention the giant national projects in all fields, which leave the world puzzled as to how they are accomplished and how their funds are provided.

Let us review the situation and the crises the people lived through during the rule of the Brotherhood, which many children who were then aged between 10 and 14 may not grasp, and the current situation in which those children have become young people with every right to know the facts through their parents, relatives and every honourable patriot – away from the doubts, rumours and spirit of frustration spread by the Brotherhood’s battalions and their supporters on social media.

Come, let us compare Egypt’s foreign reserves after the events of 2011 and until 2013, which reached 15 billion dollars after the flight of capital, the halt of tourism and the obtaining of deposits and loans from Arab countries, Qatar and Turkey, with now, when they have become 40.5 billion dollars without any tourist activity and in light of the coronavirus crisis and its repercussions on the whole world.

We appeal to parents to draw the attention of young people to reviewing the news and YouTube videos about the crises of electricity, bread and bottled gas, the queues of cars in front of and around petrol stations, the scarcity of ration goods and the violence and thuggery to seize them, the acute shortage of medicines, hospitals going out of service, the absence of tranquillity and safety and the increasing doses of threats and fear during the rule of the Brotherhood, and the difference between today