Is trust the only missing ingredient from Egypt's economic reform recipe?

The economist behind a plan to unlock at least $380 billion worth of assets from Egypt's black market says President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi must first restore another asset that has depreciated over the years: The trust of a wary public.

That is a tall order in a country where the government has chronically neglected basic duties, in many cases leaving citizens to fend for themselves and find ways around laws and bureaucracy that hinder more than help.

But Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, who has been consulted by dozens of world leaders on private property reform over the last 25 years and has met with Sisi three times since May, is confident the president will use a narrow window of opportunity to address Egyptians' pervasive suspicion of government.

"Egyptians don't trust their own administration," de Soto told Reuters. "They're not going to hand in names or data, so you've got to start by establishing credibility."

He has given Sisi a plan outlining specific changes to the bureaucracy and legal code needed to integrate an estimated 60 per cent of the population into the system by registering and documenting ordinary Egyptians' assets.