and advocates government control of prices and production, accord- ing to diplomatic cables disclosed by WikiLeaks. To this day, economic data are gathered by the military and treated as state secrets. Still, Ghali’s team had remarkable achievements. Between the end of 2004 and the
end of March 2007, Egypt had created 2.4 million jobs, according to the IMF. Exports and imports rose sharply, along with the three largest sources of income: workers’ remittances, Suez Canal receipts, and tourism. By 2004, Egypt had a well-func-
tioning foreign exchange market and had lifted the restrictions on access to foreign currency that had long con- strained Egyptian businesses. Ghali had slashed corporate and property taxes, tripling government revenues. In 2004, Egypt imported 60,000 cars; by 2010, imports stood at 240,000.
S
ome fear that the military-led government has a vested interest
in reversing such reform and return- ing to a state-controlled economic model. While analysts estimate that Egypt’s military controls as much as one-third of the economy, some say the fi gure could be even higher. And many Egyptians remain incredibly poor: Forty percent of some 80 mil- lion people live on less than $2 a day. But the military’s purge of the
reformers is not only a convenient way to defuse popular fury over the Mubarak era in general, it’s a way to protect its own stake in Egypt’s econ- omy. Had Mubarak’s son Gamal and his allies come to power, the military’s secretive ways and holdings, not to mention those of the Muslim Brother- hood, would have been in jeopardy. The revolution, with its insistence
on Islam as the source of Egyptian identity, coupled with the military’s traditional hostility to Christians, does not bode well for secular, pro- Western activists like Ghali. Until he was named fi nance minis- ter, no Copt had ever risen to so high
BARRED Ahmed Maghrabi, jailed on corruption charges in Cairo, Egypt.
a civilian post in modern times. Even then, a few extremist Salafi sheiks is- sued fatwas denouncing his promo- tion: Islam prohibited putting Chris- tians in charge of Muslim treasure, they opined. Many of the most savage attacks
on Ghali in the Egyptian press have directly or indirectly touched on his religion, implying that a Christian’s loyalty to Egypt may be questioned. Last August, Rose al Yusuf, an Ar-
abic daily, reported that he had re- nounced his citizenship to become an Israeli. Still other papers have re- ported that Ghali was found drunk in his palace in Madrid — alcohol is banned for observant Muslims — hugging a safe fi lled with 2 million euros. Friends say Ghali has no safe or house in Madrid. Reports of Mi- chelle Ghali’s death, and of Youssef
Ghali’s alleged contemplation of sui- cide — not true, say close friends — have touched Egyptians, a sentimen- tal people who are now worried about their own beloved country’s fate. A journalist writing in Egypt’s daily Al Masry al-Youm recently praised Ghali for reforming Egypt’s tax and customs duty systems. Many Egyptians, friends say, are
gradually acknowledging that those they have banished may not be cor- rupt, and that even if some of them are, Egypt’s poverty and income dis- parities cannot be mainly their fault. Egyptians also sense that the gov-
ernment will soon be making funda- mental choices about Egypt’s eco- nomic fate. If confi dence is restored, analyst Ahmed Heikal notes, Egypt within 10 years can become Turkey. If not, “we risk becoming Pakistan.”
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