Egypt’s economic situation could trigger dangerous levels of chaos, instability – Ex-presidential candidate Farid Zahran

Egypt has been in an economic crisis since 2011 with rising public debt, high inflation and currency depreciation among other things. Price hikes on subsidized goods and the weak performance of the Egyptian pound against the dollar have raised the cost of living for many citizens. The country also faces increased poverty and unemployment with the World Bank ranking it as the hardest hit by food inflation in the last quarter of 2023.

Egypt is also struggling to pay off its $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amidst worsening consequences reaffirmed by the outbreak of war in Gaza.

According to Farid Zahran, the country’s economic woes result from the continuous reliance on the policies of a government that has been in power for six years without any major reforms. He indicates that transformative policies needed to revive the ailing economy have stalled while the country’s leadership insists on the same economic orientation and solutions to dealing with the crisis.   

“I remember I was directly asked on TV about my future expectations and I said I expect a popular explosion to erupt that would be spontaneous and uncontrolled. Without being called for by any responsible political force and when this happens, there won’t be strong and organized responsible forces that can control this kind of explosion, lead it, or direct it which could end up in a dangerous level of chaos and instability. If the status quo continues, if the current policies continue, and if the current regime continues, it could lead to a spontaneous popular explosion that would necessarily result in the collapse of stability and security.

“There is an insistence on going ahead with the same policies. We began the new year right after the presidential elections with the same economic orientation and the same economic treatment of crisis. How can we end up with different results? Same treatment brings same results and more deterioration,” he explained to GSW's Hanan Sulaiman.

Zahran suggests that the country’s leadership takes up the mandate to introduce strategic and major reforms and open up the economy for local and foreign investments among other things.

“The reform needed is no longer simple because the crisis is huge. We need to change the economic orientation and expand freedoms. These are two major topics to address in the meantime. The regime and also the opposition fell into the same trap and that is going for direct partial and not strategic solutions that serve as painkillers such as increasing budget allocation for subsidies. Strategic solutions would mean that state organisations lift their hands off the economy except for strategic sectors which would restore competitiveness to the Egyptian economy, motivate Egyptian investors on different levels, encourage foreign investments, and improve the economic performance so we can reach an agreement to restructure foreign debt, this is the prescription,” he added.

Farid Zahran won third place in the December 2023 presidential elections in Egypt with a total number of 1,776,952 votes, or 4% of total valid votes. 

Watch Farid Zahran's interview below.