Egypt Daily News – President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said that Egypt lost $7 billion in Suez Canal revenues during the past 11 months, equivalent to 350 billion pounds. As a result of the repercussions of the war.
He stressed in a speech during his inspection of the Military Academy, that this money could have been used in development projects, saying: “We lost $7 billion in direct income from the Suez Canal in 11 months. However, the International Monetary Fund’s testimony was that The path of economic reform is going well.”
He pointed out that Egypt consumes 20 million tons of wheat annually, producing half of it and imports the other half, pointing out that the agricultural area ranged between 6 to 7 million acres when the population was about 30 million people, while the area of agricultural land currently amounts to about 10 million acres for a population of 100 million people today; this means a decrease in the per capita share from a third to a tenth.
The president cited the period of Mohamed Ali’s rule, saying: “Why did the country have better economic conditions than today in the days of Mohamed Ali and afterward?” Because at that time, the cultivated area was 4.5 to 5 million acres, and the population was 4 million, and therefore every citizen had an acre.
Requests were fulfilled from within Egypt, whether wheat, corn, or cotton, and all the homes of our people in the countryside were small productive projects that had capital. One, two or three cattle, which he uses in agriculture, and he benefited from their milk, and made other items that he sold such as eggs.”
He continued: “If we had from one million to three million in the countryside at this time; They were all producers, so the state did not need to pay a dollar at all and import from abroad. Because everything exists inside Egypt; because the more we need the dollar, the more the impact will be bad on our economy.”
President Sisi concluded his speech: “If we do not understand all of this, you will always feel that the person in front of you is not doing his job, is negligent, is your oppressor, is unjust to your circumstances, and is being cruel to you. But if you understand enough, the least you need is to say, “May God help you.”
