Dr. Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh: The Economic Plan
A former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, physician Dr. Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh decided to independently run for presidency, entitling his campaign "Strong Egypt". Below is what he hopes to achieve when he wins the upcoming presidential elections in Egypt:
"We believe that Egypt’s wealth belongs to all Egyptians, not just a certain stratum. We have a plan to make Egypt one of the top 20 economies worldwide in 10 years.
Right now, we depend our economy’s well-being depends on factors that are unstable and unreliable, such as the Suez Canal income and the endorsements of Egyptians living abroad into Egypt’s Central Bank.
The first thing to do is to build our factories with our own hands. Then we can shift from being a country that mainly depends on imported products to a country where people actually buy and use locally manufactured goods. This will help us in creating new job opportunities and vacancies.
Investments are a very important factor for us when we talk about the economy. Yet, it needs to come with certain conditions. Investors will get advantages and incentives that will motivate them, but at the same time, but we will guide and determine where this investments will go and how they will be used. This will help us promote the economy and provide what is missing for our people. Otherwise, investors might create monopolies in our products and services sectors.
Our economic plan is directed at the strata that has suffered from the old regime and that had its rights and wealth taken away. One way to do that is to offer subsidies only to those who need it. For example, a Tuktuk-driver needs to get subsidized gas for his vehicle, while those who ride expensive cars are not really dependent on it. Also, the unemployed will enjoy the benefits of subsidies for two years, but under certain conditions, of course.
We will also heavily support small and medium enterprises and offer subsidized training programs. So instead of giving the employed and unemployed fish, we will teach them how to fish.
Another important step we are going to take is the revision of fiscal policies. Our tax-system will become a progressive one: the more the income, the higher the taxes. As for our expenses, we will control them by determining a maximum and a minimum wage.
We will focus on building factories and productive projects for the agricultural field and production, in order to compete with foreign countries.
With a growing economy, our debts will decrease and we will be able to lend other countries money, and not borrow from anyone anymore."
"We believe that Egypt’s wealth belongs to all Egyptians, not just a certain stratum. We have a plan to make Egypt one of the top 20 economies worldwide in 10 years.
Right now, we depend our economy’s well-being depends on factors that are unstable and unreliable, such as the Suez Canal income and the endorsements of Egyptians living abroad into Egypt’s Central Bank.
The first thing to do is to build our factories with our own hands. Then we can shift from being a country that mainly depends on imported products to a country where people actually buy and use locally manufactured goods. This will help us in creating new job opportunities and vacancies.
Investments are a very important factor for us when we talk about the economy. Yet, it needs to come with certain conditions. Investors will get advantages and incentives that will motivate them, but at the same time, but we will guide and determine where this investments will go and how they will be used. This will help us promote the economy and provide what is missing for our people. Otherwise, investors might create monopolies in our products and services sectors.
Our economic plan is directed at the strata that has suffered from the old regime and that had its rights and wealth taken away. One way to do that is to offer subsidies only to those who need it. For example, a Tuktuk-driver needs to get subsidized gas for his vehicle, while those who ride expensive cars are not really dependent on it. Also, the unemployed will enjoy the benefits of subsidies for two years, but under certain conditions, of course.
We will also heavily support small and medium enterprises and offer subsidized training programs. So instead of giving the employed and unemployed fish, we will teach them how to fish.
Another important step we are going to take is the revision of fiscal policies. Our tax-system will become a progressive one: the more the income, the higher the taxes. As for our expenses, we will control them by determining a maximum and a minimum wage.
We will focus on building factories and productive projects for the agricultural field and production, in order to compete with foreign countries.
With a growing economy, our debts will decrease and we will be able to lend other countries money, and not borrow from anyone anymore."