Book Review: Mahmoud Mohieldin analysis of Egypt economic policies over last 70 years

Ahram Online , Tuesday 13 Aug 2024

The Political Economy of Crisis Management and Reform in Egypt, written by Mahmoud Mohieldin, Hanan Amin-Salem, Amira El-Shal, and Eman Moustafa, demonstrates Egypt’s crisis management history and the internal and external pressures it faces, arguing that its economic policy-making has been following a reactive rather than proactive approach.

The Political Economy of Crisis Management and Reform in Egypt

 

The book aims to identify mechanisms for Egypt to deal with challenges and priorities of economic policies beyond crisis management.

Mohieldin is a professor of Economics at Cairo University, the UN special envoy on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the UN high-level champion for climate change.

Amin-Salem is the managing director and global head of Sovereign Advisory at Citi.

El-Shal is an assistant professor of Economics at Cairo University and the research associate director at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab.

Moustafa is a research manager at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and a senior economist at Egypt’s General Authority for Investment and Free Zones.

The book studies the Egyptian economy from 1952 until now, providing a comprehensive analysis and prescription of Egypt's past and future economic reform and development policies.

It explores the crises, disruptions, and poor concepts that have shaped Egypt's modern economy and the government's policies in response.

This project began in late 2019, before the COVID-19 crisis, and evolved during the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

One chapter of the book examines key decisions that have affected the Egyptian economy since 1952 while considering the political reasons behind that. Then, the authors present an analysis of policy-making, structural change, and performance.

Another chapter presents crisis management strategies adopted by Egypt to address the global financial, food, and fuel crisis (triple-F crisis) and its accompanying political consequences along with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Mohieldin and his co-authors then attempted to determine whether these strategies helped Egypt back onto the path of growth and development.

This includes creating a roadmap that Egypt can follow to optimize reform gains and minimize threats to growth and development.

Additionally, one of the chapters considers the role of institutions and governance reforms in achieving inclusive and sustainable growth. Here, the authors analyze the institutional reforms and development strategies required to address the Egyptian economy's structural challenges and establish a foundation for sustained and accelerated growth.

This brings them to the conclusion that structural economic reform and good governance should be present together to break the resistance to the reform cycle in Egypt.

The book also presents the major economic shocks that have hindered development in Egypt, followed by recommendations for policy-makers.

In addition, Mohieldin and his co-authors offer prescriptions in multiple sectors and issues like inclusive growth, sustainable development, finance gap, debt management, investment strategies, inflation, and export dynamics.

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