Sisi to CNBC: Economic conditions in Egypt much better

WASHINGTON - 7 November 2017: Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said the economic conditions in Egypt are getting much better.

In an interview with CNBC over the weekend that aired Tuesday morning, Sisi said that "targeting tourism in Egypt is a very dangerous issue and it has big impact on the economy."

"We have not reached the number of tourists or the revenues we had before 2011 even until now," he said.

"In the past seven years, we have not reached the figures prior to 2011, we haven't reached the level of revenue either," Sisi said.

"If any wants to harm the Egyptian economy, they always talk about this sector to impact our revenues from it. The situation is getting much better compared to the past months and years," he added.

He added "the security measures in the whole country, especially in tourist areas, are at the highest level to guarantee that tourists can visit Egypt safely in order to enjoy their visit and return to their countries."

"Of course, the economic situation is improving very much, we have launched big projects, first with the Suez Canal and the economic zone along with allocating 1.5 million acres of land for cultivation, fish farming, road networks and energy projects," the president said.

Infrastructure projects in general involve a lot of laborers, he said.

About 3 million citizens were working on these projects for three and half years and this was a big part for solving the issue of unemployment in Egypt, he said.

He said "Egypt has more than 60 million people under the age of 40 years, most of them are youth."

"Providing work for millions of people is not an easy job in a country like Egypt," he added.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said "Of course if there was criticism on the Egyptian security situation, we are in a state of war with terrorism in the full meaning of the word."

"Egypt is in this war alone. We are serious and honest in confronting terrorism," the president added.

"Another point when we are confronting this terrorism, we have our keen that no innocent people or civilians are hurt," the president said.

"The fight is not easy. We are protective of the people who have nothing to do with this war," Sisi added.

The president said "the level of stability has increased in a very big and noticeable way. I am not the only one saying this, but everyone who is following Egypt's affairs can see this."

Sisi said the situation has not been resolved yet, expounding that despite all the efforts exerted by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism lasted for many years.

"Absolute decisiveness with terrorism is not easy," he added.

Asked if the US is fulfilling it commitments to Egypt with regard to providing equipment and intelligence information to help combat terrorism, he said "It has completely changed for the better since President Donald Trump has come to power of the United States."

"I see that President Trump is managing foreign policy in our region. Can I say in short that the United States has regained its weight in the region and its role, and is preserving the security of the region and its countries," he said.

"We are completely supporting and cooperating with President Trump on this," Sisi added.

Asked about the inflation rates in Egypt, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said "the Egyptian economy is suffering from chronic problems, our measures to reform are real."

"When we are doing it, we are trying to do it in a balanced way so that the measures do not weigh on Egyptians," he said.

He added that Egypt was keen while taking these measures to secure social protection for people in order to ease pressure of the inflation on low-income citizens.