Hamed dared to use "collapsing" despite that he could not help but admit that Egypt repositioned itself as a “global investment destination” – Egypt Today

CAIRO – 8 June 2019: Following the same schemed strategy of defaming each and every progress that Egypt is pulling through, a Muslim Brotherhood ex-minister argued in a Foreign Policy Magazine opinion article that the Egyptian economy is allegedly collapsing.

Full of contradictions

Yehia Hamed, a Brotherhood member who was investment minister in Mohamed Morsi's government, wrote an opinion article about how he thinks ‘somehow’ that Egypt’s economy is not booming, but “collapsing.”



FILE: Yehia Hamed

Hamed dared to use the word collapsing despite that he could not help but admit that Egypt repositioned itself as a “global investment destination,” and that financial commentators have taken to calling it the world’s hottest emerging market.

He further added that investors are flooding into the country in the hope of making a fortune in Egypt’s capital markets; in December 2018 foreign holdings of local debt were up more than 20 percent on the previous year, with this trend set to continue in 2019.

Also he admitted that one investment bank called Egypt’s apparent recovery the “most attractive reform story” in the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.

Reddit user destinydisappointer commented on Saturday, “The article is written by a minister who served in Morsi's government, basically an Ikhwani.

“It is full of opinions and conjecture being spun as if it were facts without providing evidence.”

Foreign Policy sells readers to whoever pays more

But the real issue here is not Hamed, but Foreign Policy and its lack of professionalism to let a Muslim Brotherhood fugitive to publish his article without any fact-checking or any sort of authentication.

Worse still, the magazine turned a blind eye over various reports by European and American newspapers and magazine regarding how Egypt’s economy is witnessing a remarkable recovery and boost.

Despite all claims of professionalism and authenticity, the magazine turned into an outlet for the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood organization to spread rumors and false claims about the Egyptian leadership and situation, by publishing articles and fake news about Egypt with no shred of evidence.

A few months earlier, some media reports exposed moves by the Qatari regime and the Muslim Brotherhood to buy stakes in foreign newspapers to guarantee that some foreign pens will defend the tiny emirate and the terrorist organization.

Foreign Policy was not the first newspaper to sell its readers to whoever pays more, as a year ago, Morsi’s son paid the Washington Post to publish an article that incites against the Egyptian state.

Millions of dollars are being paid to magazines and newspapers to serve the devious schemes of some countries and organizations that only seek destruction and chaos to prevail over other countries for their own interests.

Mere delusions

Hamed’s delusions went on that if the current uptrend continues, Egypt will soon be bankrupt. He also accused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) of manipulating the structure of the Egyptian economy.

MP Mahmoud Al-Seidi, member of the Parliamentary Economic Committee, slammed the article as a “paid article and a failure attempt to defame the Egyptian economy by the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group.”



FILE: MP Mahmoud Al-Seidi

“We did not praise our country’s economy, however, there are international economic foundations and institutions that simply do not compliment, not to mention reports praising the Egyptian economy and confirming that our growth rates and increasing cash reserves are unprecedented,” Al-Seidi added.

The Egyptian MP further called on foreigners to ignore everything that the Muslim Brotherhood and their media outlets publish.

Another Reddit user, RidiculousVillain, said, “I don't think it's half as bad as the article makes it out to be. I do believe the country is on the path to being an economic success.”

“This article is written by an Ikhwani writer who served in Mohamed Morsi's regime. I bet if you translate it to Arabic, you'll find that it's nothing but a Moataz Matar rant, he is so loud and one of the most stunning bullshitters I have ever seen.”

He also added, “Anyways, the country is attracting a lot of foreign investments, tourism is recovering, the country is becoming a safe place to live again… The country is shaping up again.”

Facts proving otherwise

For his part, Deputy Chairman on Planning and Budget committee Yasser Omar said the whole report is a desperate attempt to demean Egypt and its economy, saying that if it was not for the economic reform program, Egypt would have witnessed an acute recession, and the currency exchange rate would have fallen, unlike the current situation.



FILE: MP Yasser Omar

Inflation fell very sharply after reaching 30%, now down to 13%,” Omar added. “Egypt’s reform program is a program that should be taught, it is 100% Egyptian, and there is no need to mention that the recent period witnessed programs to support the poor, which did not exist before.”

Omar further added that attempts to defame the Egyptian economy will fail because the reality proves otherwise.