CAIRO - Egyptian economy will, within seven years, be better than the Turkish and Malaysian economies, because of the economic programme of the party which wants to achieve a real developmental renaissance, an official in Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) has said. Mohamed Gouda added during the conference of the Federation of Egyptian Industries that this renaissance needs security to return to the streets and political stability. Gouda, a member of economic committee of the FJP, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has won more than 50 per cent in the People's Assembly (PA) elections, stressed that this programme is based on respecting economic freedom and also respecting people's property. The programme aims at setting up a strong state in order to protect competitiveness and prevent monopolies. It also seeks to care for the poor, adopting a big national project for the sake of comprehensive, continuous development, along with being concerned about social justice, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported on Wednesday. Gouda added that the cultivation of about 3.5 million feddans on the North Coast, in East Oweinat and in Sinai, depending on underground water, is one of the major national projects of the party. This project will help take the pressure off overpopulated areas - the Nile Valley and Delta - by setting up new cities around the areas to be cultivated. The official pointed that the Suez Canal could make Egypt $100 billion per year, while he also stressed the necessity of caring about small and medium-sized projects, as well as focusing on labour-intensive projects, in order to overcome unemployment, Egypt's biggest challenge. "The party seeks to develop the so-called human knowledge economy, which considers man as a source of knowledge, by developing software and technology as India has done, in order to export goods valued at $160 billion per annum," he said. Gouda stressed the necessity of easing the pressure on the public budget by activating the role of endowments and zakat (alms). This could amount to about $1 billion per year and the money could be used to set up projects to create jobs for the poor, in order to allow them a decent standard of living. Gouda further said the party has ideas ready for reducing the public budget, for example by reconsidering subsidies of about $800 million, of which 60 per cent support cheap energy for heavy-energy-consumption industries and also by reconsidering gas deals which could save at least $20 billion per year. Another idea is to provide homes with piped gas in order to reduce the consumption rate of butane gas cylinders and gasoline. If these things are achieved, about $100 billion per year will be saved. Regarding the private sector, Gouda referred to a �"nonofficial economyÕ, worth more than about $670 billion, stressing the need to legitimise it.
