Egypt has requested officially today a $4.8 billion loan from the IMF during the visit of Mrs. Christine Lagarde to Cairo today and her meeting with President Morsi and Prime minister Hisham Kandeel.
Ironically the Muslim brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party under the leadership of Morsi rejected the loan from the IMF from several months ago when former PM Ganzoury “Current President’s adviser” announced that his government will seek a $3.2 billion loan from the IMF. We all remember how the MB in the parliament stood against the matter just like the rest of the revolutionary forces that refused to increase the burden of the country another loan with conditions that will harm the poor in the future.
The Freedom and Justice Party “led by our current president Morsi” issued a strong short statement refusing the loan and wondering why we have to get a loan from the IMF when we have a lot of sources last February. Former FJP leader and current elected president of Egypt Mohamed Morsi told the IMF officials back that we did not need economic burdens !!
It is worth to say that in 2011 SCAF refused that loan then in early 2012 it backed Ganzoury’s government in its quest but MB refused then when MB is in charge of the country it accept it !!
It seems to me that the Muslim brotherhood and their presidential candidate did not know the trouble Egypt is suffering from when they made up their great renaissance program that their experts spent over 20 days working on it !!!!
There is no doubt that Egypt hit rock bottom thanks to the corruption and poverty spread in time of Mubarak and his economic policies , some of which were determined by IMB and International Bank. These economic policies that increased the gap between the poor and the rich in Egypt were from the main reasons of the #Jan25 revolution. We had enough from bad economic policies , from foreign economic intervention. We will not fool ourselves , the IMF and the IB are not charities.
Former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotouh was the first to declare his refusal to the loan. The social democrat Islamist’s new party was also the first to issue a statement refusing the loan in a strong language demanding Morsi to hold talks with national powers in order to reach for alternatives.
Moderate Islamist Al Wasat Party also issued a statement about the loan and despite it is critical than Abu El Fotouh and his new party , it demands the President and the government to declare the conditions of such IMF.
The Salafists which are the right wing of the Islamists are also angry from the IMF loan for one reason , one religious reason : It is riba
Now to what I think.
I will quote the FJP’s words from its statement published in February 2012 and say that we got enough sources that can spare us from borrowing and aids if there is true proper use of these sources. We have to think outside the box for God sake , we have to think about the 40% of the public under the international poverty line.
Already there are certain questions in my mind :
There are other alternatives then taking a big loan from the IMF and missing around with subsidiaries that people have spoken since February 2012 . For instance The Popular campaign to drop the Egypt’s debts issued that report to the parliament in early 2012 showing the alternatives. This campaign includes economic experts not football experts for God sake.
Away from economics , as long as Egypt is still suffering economically from the burden of debts , forget any attempt to amend the Camp David treaty for real. I can not expect any political or social stability if the government starts missing with subsidiaries in this stage where people no longer fear to protest and guns are everywhere.
Ironically the Muslim brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party under the leadership of Morsi rejected the loan from the IMF from several months ago when former PM Ganzoury “Current President’s adviser” announced that his government will seek a $3.2 billion loan from the IMF. We all remember how the MB in the parliament stood against the matter just like the rest of the revolutionary forces that refused to increase the burden of the country another loan with conditions that will harm the poor in the future.
The Freedom and Justice Party “led by our current president Morsi” issued a strong short statement refusing the loan and wondering why we have to get a loan from the IMF when we have a lot of sources last February. Former FJP leader and current elected president of Egypt Mohamed Morsi told the IMF officials back that we did not need economic burdens !!
It is worth to say that in 2011 SCAF refused that loan then in early 2012 it backed Ganzoury’s government in its quest but MB refused then when MB is in charge of the country it accept it !!
It seems to me that the Muslim brotherhood and their presidential candidate did not know the trouble Egypt is suffering from when they made up their great renaissance program that their experts spent over 20 days working on it !!!!
There is no doubt that Egypt hit rock bottom thanks to the corruption and poverty spread in time of Mubarak and his economic policies , some of which were determined by IMB and International Bank. These economic policies that increased the gap between the poor and the rich in Egypt were from the main reasons of the #Jan25 revolution. We had enough from bad economic policies , from foreign economic intervention. We will not fool ourselves , the IMF and the IB are not charities.
Former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abu El Fotouh was the first to declare his refusal to the loan. The social democrat Islamist’s new party was also the first to issue a statement refusing the loan in a strong language demanding Morsi to hold talks with national powers in order to reach for alternatives.
Moderate Islamist Al Wasat Party also issued a statement about the loan and despite it is critical than Abu El Fotouh and his new party , it demands the President and the government to declare the conditions of such IMF.
The Salafists which are the right wing of the Islamists are also angry from the IMF loan for one reason , one religious reason : It is riba
Now to what I think.
I will quote the FJP’s words from its statement published in February 2012 and say that we got enough sources that can spare us from borrowing and aids if there is true proper use of these sources. We have to think outside the box for God sake , we have to think about the 40% of the public under the international poverty line.
Already there are certain questions in my mind :
- What are the conditions of the IMF ??
- Where is that plan of Morsi which he promised to adopt economically that would bring to Egypt $900 billions in 4 years ??
- What about raising the fees of Suez canal and forcing ships to pay with the Euro instead of the dollar or even the Egyptian pound ??
- What about progressive taxation ?? I think in a country like Egypt this is good and do not preach about investments to the end of that crap as people have sold their organs and babies in the last 20 years because the bloody economic plans to attract foreign investments !!!
- What about the government expenditure ?? The government’s advisors’ salaries that reach to millions per year ?? Already how much are the salaries of the president’s advisers and teams ??
- Where is our money abroad that MB promised to get ??
- What about the Gulf aids from Saudi Arabia and Qatar ??
- Why can not we stop importing useless luxurious stuff like imported ice cream , juices .. extra ??
- Why can not we have a proper real estate tax ? a real one.
- Why can not we start to reach for cheap energy renewable sources in order to save money like Solar energy and wind energy !?
- Where is the money Sheikh Hassan collected during the NGOs crisis ??
- What is the fate of Al Sokary Gold mine ??
There are other alternatives then taking a big loan from the IMF and missing around with subsidiaries that people have spoken since February 2012 . For instance The Popular campaign to drop the Egypt’s debts issued that report to the parliament in early 2012 showing the alternatives. This campaign includes economic experts not football experts for God sake.
Away from economics , as long as Egypt is still suffering economically from the burden of debts , forget any attempt to amend the Camp David treaty for real. I can not expect any political or social stability if the government starts missing with subsidiaries in this stage where people no longer fear to protest and guns are everywhere.
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