Browse content similar to HARDtalk on the Road in Egypt Part 2 - Economy. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
dollars of the budget deficit. Egypt is in turmoil. A power- | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
struggle between the military and the people is playing out on the | :00:34. | :00:43. | |
streets. HARDtalk is on the road in a country desperate for a fresh | :00:43. | :00:50. | |
start. A political and economic. Revolution carries a price. Are | :00:50. | :01:00. | |
:01:00. | :01:01. | ||
Egyptians ready to pay it? People here want radical change, | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
not just in politics, but in the economy also. Workers are pushing | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
for better pay and conditions. The jobless are demanding work. And | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
everyone wants to see an end to the era of endemic corruption. The | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
revelation faces a fundamental challenge. Can it deliver a new | :01:23. | :01:33. | |
economic deal for Egypt? Slowly, painstakingly, Egyptians | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
are trying to piece together a new nation. The politically free, | :01:38. | :01:46. | |
economic clear revitalised. -- economically. This fact we ought to | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
be an inspiration. The family-run business employs more than 1,000 | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
workers, turning out fabrics and furniture exported to a host of the | :01:55. | :02:02. | |
world's best known stores. For 20 years, the founder has backed his | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
faith in Egypt's economic potential by investing his own money. But | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
since January, overseas orders have fallen by up to 50%. International | :02:13. | :02:20. | |
partners are worried. Is the continuing revolutionary turmoil | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
bad for business? Welcome to HARDtalk. The last year | :02:24. | :02:33. | |
in Egypt has been a time of turmoil. A sense of uncertainty and | :02:33. | :02:42. | |
instability. Has that affected the business climate? Foreshore. This | :02:42. | :02:52. | |
:02:52. | :02:52. | ||
situation is very difficult for us to read what is coming. Most of the | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
Egyptian people stopped making any new investment. They are afraid of | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
what is coming. All of them are saying, wait until everything has | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
settled. We have not seen any improvement because nobody wants to | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
make any decisions right now. has been over many years a | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
consistent message that Egypt is being held back by corruption at | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
the top, by the need for kickbacks and sweeteners and bribes to be | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
paid to government officials. Everyone knows that it is not easy | :03:24. | :03:34. | |
:03:34. | :03:40. | ||
getting your licence, your permissions to do easy work. There | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
is always someone asking for something in to give you your | :03:44. | :03:50. | |
licence. You can spend a few years waiting to start work. Did you have | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
to offer sweeteners? Without offering these you will never move | :03:54. | :04:01. | |
it forward. You have to pay to get your rights. This is what the | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
problem was. It strikes me that fall of the political excitement | :04:06. | :04:13. | |
around Tahrir Square and the revolution, this is the real front | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
line because if Egypt can't fix its economy, offered jobs, particularly | :04:18. | :04:25. | |
to young people, then this revolution can't succeed. You are | :04:25. | :04:31. | |
right 100%. We need to depend on young people more in the future. We | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
need to completely change with the new generation. We need to give | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
them a different education. Vocational education. Training, | :04:41. | :04:48. | |
supporting them to lead, giving them the right standard of living. | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
We have talked about uncertainty affecting the business climate. Is | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
it affecting the way you are looking at your business right now? | :04:59. | :05:09. | |
:05:09. | :05:10. | ||
Yes it is. I started a project one- and-a-half years ago and I invested | :05:10. | :05:17. | |
�18 million -- Egyptian pounds in a factory close to hear. All of the | :05:17. | :05:24. | |
machines and everything is ready to go. But we have to wait for the | :05:24. | :05:30. | |
cables for the electricity. I have paid so much to start that up. | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
can't start the project because there are so much uncertainty? | :05:34. | :05:40. | |
are right. This is a fact. 240 new jobs there. But I'm afraid to start | :05:40. | :05:48. | |
it. This situation, I don't know what will happen. Thank you. | :05:48. | :05:55. | |
200 metres from his business, graphic evidence of Egypt's | :05:55. | :06:03. | |
economic malaise. A factory closed, now derelict. In Egypt, grit has | :06:03. | :06:13. | |
stalled and unemployment is right - - unemployment is rising. With its | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
mean streets hugging the Mediterranean shore, Alexandria can | :06:18. | :06:27. | |
still evoke memories of a golden age of cosmopolitan prosperity. But | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
head away from the sea into the city's poorer neighbourhoods and | :06:32. | :06:40. | |
you enter a very different world. In this neighbourhood in Alexandria, | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
it is one of the poorest parts of the city. I have been invited here | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
by local people to see how ordinary people have to live in Alexandria. | :06:49. | :06:57. | |
We will go into the depths of the neighbourhood. It is very narrow. | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
What we have our families living in a desperate conditions. Here, there | :07:02. | :07:08. | |
is a family of six living in one room. We go into the neighbourhood | :07:08. | :07:18. | |
:07:18. | :07:19. | ||
a bit further. We find a toilet. This toilet have to serve the | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
entire building. There are dozens of people reliant on this one | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
toilet. If we go a bit further, this lady has lived for 30 years | :07:28. | :07:35. | |
she says inside his room with her family. This 27-year-old has lived | :07:35. | :07:45. | |
:07:45. | :08:09. | ||
here all his life. He is out of Four out of every 10 Egyptians live | :08:09. | :08:17. | |
in poverty. For under a dollar a day. 50% of this nation's wealth is | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
in the hands of an elite 5% of the population. If the revolution is to | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
mean anything for the people who live in this neighbourhood, those | :08:25. | :08:31. | |
numbers will have to change and change fast. The uncomfortable | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
truth about the period since the Mubarak regime was toppled is that | :08:35. | :08:45. | |
:08:45. | :08:46. | ||
economic circumstances for people around here have not gotten better. | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
Egypt's grim economics and turbulent politics come together. | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
One of Egypt's strict Islamist parties is selling cheap meat to | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
the needy. The upcoming Parliament election is clearly in mind. Beef | :09:01. | :09:08. | |
is sold for little more than half the normal shop price. Is this the | :09:08. | :09:14. | |
opportunist politics of poverty? have been doing this a long time, | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
but we were prevented by the authorities. They have been aiming | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
us to give us a bad image in the media. Giving charity to people and | :09:24. | :09:34. | |
:09:34. | :09:34. | ||
giving them cheap food giving us a good image. That is bad for the old | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
authority. The critics would say you are exploiting the poverty of | :09:37. | :09:41. | |
the people to buy their votes with cheap food. Is this your way of | :09:41. | :09:47. | |
buying votes? We have been doing this for 30 years. We had done this | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
before but went to jail. Everyone knows this. One votes were we | :09:53. | :09:59. | |
buying them? Maybe he wed buying boats then, but you are buying | :09:59. | :10:09. | |
:10:09. | :10:09. | ||
boats now. If you're doing the same job, the same thing, what is the | :10:09. | :10:16. | |
change? But it is a very strange form of democracy if your main | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
attraction to the people is to say, vote for this party and we will | :10:21. | :10:29. | |
give you cheap food. That is not a strong political argument. We are | :10:29. | :10:36. | |
not only giving food but help. What are the other parties doing? | :10:36. | :10:45. | |
Nothing. They might be saying slogans but you don't find them | :10:45. | :10:51. | |
doing anything. Across Egypt, levels of economic discontent are | :10:51. | :10:58. | |
rising. A recent poll found 40% of people saying it was very hard to | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
get by on their current income. A wave of industrial unrest is | :11:03. | :11:13. | |
:11:13. | :11:13. | ||
sweeping the country. Arriving in Cairo, I find riot police barring | :11:13. | :11:20. | |
access to a government ministry. The reason is a strike over pay and | :11:20. | :11:27. | |
conditions. The very police man reviled for brutalising democracy | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
protesters have now themselves taken to the streets. They want | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
more pay and better conditions. They have blocked the road outside | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
the Interior Ministry. I will talk to some of them and see what they | :11:40. | :11:50. | |
:11:50. | :11:57. | ||
grievances are. Why are the policeman so unhappy? We don't have | :11:57. | :12:07. | |
:12:07. | :12:23. | ||
How much money do you get for one What about the SCAF? De believe | :12:23. | :12:33. | |
:12:33. | :12:46. | ||
they will help you will not? -- in The police are in revolt. Nothing | :12:46. | :12:55. | |
better sums up the economic chaos of Egypt after the revolution. This | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
is 1,000 km south of Cairo. Life unfolds at a different pace. | :13:00. | :13:07. | |
Dictated by the grace and beauty of the Nile. Even here, a chill | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
economic wind is blowing. Tourism has been hard hit since the | :13:13. | :13:19. | |
revolution. Numbers are down by more than one-third. Cruise boats | :13:19. | :13:24. | |
are tied up. In the long run, the revolution may | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
be remaking Egypt but in the short run, it has been extraordinarily | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
bad for the tourism business. Political upheaval, tension and | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
street violence have kept many visitors and their wallets away | :13:39. | :13:47. | |
from the country. Here on the Nile and made all of the wonderful | :13:47. | :13:54. | |
ancient antiquities, those ed. | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
This table is an extraordinary monument to ancient Egyptian | :13:58. | :14:05. | |
artistry. -- temple. These days, you don't have to endure heeding -- | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
heaving crowds to see it. We found out the Egyptians were possibly the | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
first in the history to explore the Nile. The tour guides are still | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
here, their stories are compelling, but the audiences are small. How | :14:20. | :14:26. | |
would you describe the last year? Particularly the months since the | :14:26. | :14:33. | |
revelation -- revolution in terms of business? Very difficult. It is | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
an intermediate period. Things are not stable. They started to get | :14:37. | :14:47. | |
:14:47. | :14:51. | ||
better for a while but it has its But is it because there is such a | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
sense of uncertainty? People normally go where they feel safe. | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
You would not take your kids way you do not feel safe. Media focus | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
on Egypt so whatever happens here shows within minutes around the | :15:05. | :15:15. | |
:15:15. | :15:15. | ||
world. People hope that will change. When a tourist numbers are down, it | :15:15. | :15:21. | |
has a huge impact, not just on particular sites like this bar one | :15:21. | :15:28. | |
of the wider economy. The first time any tourist things of visiting | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
a country like Egypt, he makes his booking. The money goes to a | :15:33. | :15:42. | |
:15:43. | :15:43. | ||
company. He takes taxis, he buys from shops, he goes to restaurants. | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
That money goes straight from his pocket to these people that he | :15:46. | :15:52. | |
needs every day or every other day. What do you want from the next | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
generation of Egyptian leaders? People that feel the pain of the | :15:57. | :16:04. | |
people. To know that at least 40% of Egyptians live under the poverty | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
line. To know that there are a lot of problems in the educational and | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
medical fields. You have been through tough times in your | :16:15. | :16:21. | |
business and city. There is still a sense of uncertainty here? Are you | :16:21. | :16:30. | |
optimistic? Ferry. There is no 100% trust -- ferry. You cannot get that. | :16:30. | :16:40. | |
:16:40. | :16:42. | ||
No. The Mubarak dynasty than Egypt as a family business. Swiss banks | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
froze hundreds of millions of dollars in his account. They | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
embrace capitalism, are on their terms. -- Butt. Now the cracks are | :16:52. | :16:59. | |
beginning to show. There is wealth in Egypt but it has not spread. The | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
old economic order looks increasingly unsustainable. Now, | :17:05. | :17:11. | |
when one of the country's richest men, whose family founded a big | :17:11. | :17:18. | |
conglomerates, looks out of his suite and sees a city convulsed by | :17:18. | :17:24. | |
political violence and a future shrouded in uncertainty. Welcome to | :17:24. | :17:31. | |
HARDtalk. Thank you. Does Egypt need an economic revolution? | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
but we are now at a standstill. We cannot have a revolution when you | :17:36. | :17:42. | |
do not have a government that is sustainable. We are waiting for the | :17:42. | :17:48. | |
elections to choose a new government. How can we have a | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
revolution it economically if you do not have the government to share | :17:52. | :18:01. | |
in this? So you are suggesting for the ten months since the free -- | :18:01. | :18:07. | |
revolution, the country has been in a limbo? Exactly. It is difficult | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
for anybody to achieve anything. Nobody is signing anything. It | :18:13. | :18:22. | |
:18:23. | :18:24. | ||
could be misunderstood. We suffer, from democracy, because we cannot | :18:24. | :18:33. | |
justified approvals. Nothing is being done. Who is going to invest | :18:33. | :18:42. | |
in a country that has a temporary government that is very weak? It | :18:42. | :18:46. | |
has gone back on many of its investment promises to investors | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
who came on good faith. It seems across the country a groundswell of | :18:50. | :18:57. | |
support for the idea of reversing some of the economic liberalisation | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
policies we saw in the years of the Mubarak regime, because people | :19:02. | :19:08. | |
believe those policies were a form of crony capitalism. His family | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
were helping their friends. They want to see those policies undone. | :19:13. | :19:23. | |
:19:23. | :19:23. | ||
That is fair enough, isn't it? Egypt has adapted the free economic | :19:23. | :19:33. | |
:19:33. | :19:34. | ||
pattern. We have adapted and Investment... Let's say an active | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
role for investors to come and provided the environment to create | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
jobs... But there wasn't free. It was based upon corruption. We now | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
know of the corrupt deals was part of every day... How do you know | :19:50. | :19:56. | |
that? How else can you explain that there are hundreds of millions of | :19:56. | :20:03. | |
US dollars in bank accounts of the Mubarak family? Somebody was | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
putting it there. Most of this is outside of the privatisation | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
programme. When he talked to someone who knows the system or | :20:13. | :20:22. | |
invested in it. I am not here to defend the Mubarak family. Are we | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
have never been subjected to any pressure to make any payments to | :20:27. | :20:32. | |
any member of his family. You never had to pay sweeteners to get | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
permits ordeals? You run the biggest telecommunications business | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
in this country. We are industrialists. Most of our work | :20:41. | :20:47. | |
has been built on building factories. We did not participate | :20:47. | :20:53. | |
in the privatisation programme. We have built everything from scratch. | :20:53. | :21:00. | |
You still need permits. On the low level. It was never a political | :21:00. | :21:07. | |
licence. Your plea for greater entrepreneurial spirits and for new | :21:07. | :21:12. | |
investment, overseas and domestic, how is there going to be delivered | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
when your first point to me was that this economy is in limbo, | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
there is no leadership or strategy and nobody knows where this economy | :21:19. | :21:24. | |
is going. It is not going to happen. This country will go bust in a few | :21:24. | :21:30. | |
months. Who is going to invest when you do not have stability? You do | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
not have a democratically elected governments, the police are on | :21:34. | :21:40. | |
strike, the lawyers and judges are on strike. UK into Egypt with the | :21:40. | :21:48. | |
most attractive time. -- UK. are smiling but you have just said | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
the most disturbing thing. You said this country is going bust. That | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
means the revolution is going to go bust as well. If the economy goes | :21:57. | :22:03. | |
down, all the dreams of the Egyptian people... Because the | :22:03. | :22:10. | |
revolution and the people here should give Egypt a break. They | :22:10. | :22:15. | |
should stop demonstrating and striking. The country cannot afford | :22:15. | :22:22. | |
to give them anything. With respect, it is easy for you to say here on | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
the 26th floor of the finest Office building in Cairo and Sami people | :22:25. | :22:32. | |
who have virtually nothing have to stop demanding more. I would | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
understand demonstrating for something. It is not lawyers, | :22:37. | :22:44. | |
judges, engineers, doctors, factory workers. People from the telephone | :22:44. | :22:51. | |
company striking have the highest salaries in any public sector. If | :22:51. | :22:56. | |
any people in the poor slums strike I understand. The nurses people of | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
Egypt are the poorest. -- nicest. They do not complain. They take a | :23:02. | :23:08. | |
lot of hardship. The ones who once more are the ones who have. We need | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
to give the country a break to survive. Do you think survival is | :23:13. | :23:18. | |
at stake now? There is a real possibility this country could go | :23:18. | :23:27. | |
under. We did not see any of the $30 billion from the European | :23:27. | :23:33. | |
community. We have seen nothing from that. The Arab countries have | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
talks a lot about that bar have not done that yet. Why? In my opinion | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
they do not want this revolution to succeed. If it succeeds, it is like | :23:43. | :23:50. | |
a disease. Anything today is better than where we were. It is a great | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
country. We will rise again. We will get out of this. I am not | :23:55. | :24:00. | |
upset with the government or the Army. I am upset with my people. If | :24:00. | :24:05. | |
he wants to change this country, people have to change. -- you want. | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
You cannot go out and work for three hours a day and say you do | :24:09. | :24:18. | |
not have any money. How long will it take to change the people? Thank | :24:18. | :24:26. | |
you for being on HARDtalk. Tahrir Square is once again full of | :24:26. | :24:34. | |
the fines. The protesters's goal is to end military rule -- defies. | :24:34. | :24:39. |