Presidential candidate Farid Zahran reveals details of his economic program

CAIRO - 27 November 2023: The economic program of the presidential candidate, Farid Zahran, is based on a number of axes under which detailed policies and programs fall, the most prominent of which is regarding the rearrangement of public investment priorities.

 

In this context, the presidential candidate says in his program that the past ten years have been characterized by huge investments from the government and the public sector, pumped into projects, which have actually contributed to raising infrastructure levels.

 

He adds: Therefore, we will work to reschedule the implementation of these projects and postpone what has not yet begun, along with improving the Egyptian economic structure by financing and stimulating the private sector to raise productivity in the real economy, industry, agriculture and technology.

 

He further explained that the plan aims to direct public investments more efficiently towards creating the investment environment, by granting attached lands, improving the productive structure, and increasing the logistical capabilities of ports, through clear feasibility studies, by restoring the general balance of the overall economy, arranging public investment priorities, and setting frameworks that the government as a whole works on.

 

Presidential candidate Farid Zahran also presented a vision to improve the economic structure, raise productivity levels, increase the contribution of the industrial sector to the gross domestic product, improve the levels of industrial exports, and increase the added value of exports to reach the size that befits the Egyptian state, which has a workforce exceeding 60 million individuals.

 

This is done by expanding the construction of industrial complexes, directing government investments to scientific research and innovation to support the industry, and preparing a financing package to save thousands of faltering and closed factories.

 

He also promised to work on attracting direct foreign investments towards the industrial sector, in a way that serves the localization of technology, raising the efficiency of the workforce, improving production levels, integrating into global value chains, and exploiting the competitive advantage in some sectors.  

 

The candidate’s electoral program also adopts a vision to reform the agricultural sector by expanding production vertically based on the production of agricultural research centers, which he said "will attract investments and stimulate agricultural industrialization so that we can transform from a country that exports some agricultural crops in their raw form to a country that exports food industries of high quality and value."

 

The presidential candidate believes it is necessary to adopt a set of advantages and incentives for the informal sector, to shift to the formal economy on the one hand, and on the other hand, rebuild the structure of tax revenues, so that most of it is based on collecting taxes from real estate wealth, capital gains, and high incomes, and not value-added and consumption taxes.

 

Zahran explained in his program that it is necessary to build the budget on the basis of sectors and not items, so that it will be easy for everyone to know clearly the amount of money spent on education, health, etc., and the budget will also adopt the logic of expanding local administration and local governance and increasing Local resources.