The Ikhwan and the money

Right now, the Brotherhood has other problems, with continuous arrests taking place and PM Nazif thinking that they should not be in parliament in first place.

But a while ago, I thought it was time to document what the Brotherhood thinks about how to regulate the Egyptian economy. After all, with 88 seats in the People's assembly, they are the second strongest political force in the country and possibly the most popular one. After their surprisingly strong showing in the parliamentary elections, I also heard a number of people in the Egyptian business community already voicing concerns, with corporate HQs abroad calling their Egyptian operations to find out whether their business would still be safe.

I rather thought it might be time to look for alternatives to an economic policies of the NDP, which as a whole, despite some decent reform measures of the economic reform ministers, is still catering to certain interest groups, combined with a state bureaucracy that all too often shelves good initiatives coming out of the cabinet.

Below is an excerpt of my piece on the Brotherhood's economic policies, the full text can be read here.

As far back as the 1980s, years before the Egyptian government actually implemented a programme of privatisation that was forced on them by the international community, the Muslim Brotherhood demanded a less marked public sector and more support for small companies. The organisation champions the free market economy.

As a result of their moral standpoint, two points in particular are at the heart of their economic theories. It must be said that these two points are indeed the key weaknesses of the Egyptian economy: high unemployment and corruption. According to the OECD, unemployment in Egypt currently stands at over 17 per cent.
 

Comments

[Issandr El Amrani]

this is a test comment - please ignore

[Gamal saif]

Thanks for the article. It was interesting and I thought it was a good entry point for more work on the MB.

One question: Aren't you holding the Ikhwan to an awfuly high bar because they don't have a stated, final econommic policy? As far as I can tell, the NDP does have a stated economic policy but they selectively implement it while concentrating economic reform around a handful of ministers. That cannot possibly be good in the long-run.

Secondly, I agree fighting corruption is not the sole answer to Egypt's economic woes. But it is a hugh part and one that the NDP is not interested in doing. Fighting corruption in Egypt would be a massive step forward. Besides with the type of organization that the MB is, it should not matter if every MP does not know what the economic policy is.....perhaps hazim farouk is working on another part of the MB's agenda. The MB MPs do divide up parliametary chores. And the MB, if evidenced by their time in parliament, are working - so should we be bothered by the fact everything is/would be so incremental?

As I said, I applaude your effort but I do think the Ikhwan are being held to a unfair standard - or certainly not the same loose standard that journalists hold the NDP to....

[Frederik Richter]

I agree with you, the MB at this state can not have a full economic program. The only bar we have to hold them against, is what they say in public.

Not sure about other journalists but I'm extremely critical of the NDP's economic policies - I don't think they have a consistent program in first place.

The fight against corruption would be central, and I agree the NDP has no interest whatsoever to fight it, on the contrary.