Amer: Government Corrupted Market

Tarek Amer, chairman of Federation of Egyptian Banks and chairman of National Bank of Egypt, said the performance of the government has corrupted the Egyptian market and presented a deformed image of capitalism. While capitalism system is an organized system that is void of corruption, the government corrupted the supervisory bodies. Therefore, state’s institutions shall be reformed.

In his address today, amid the conference of “SMEs: The Arab strategic economic choice”, Amer called on the Egyptian government to change its notions and further support private sector, as Egypt is anticipating a hopeful future after last year’s revolution.

State’s policies shall be changed to cope with the current circumstances. Youths shall be encouraged to start their own business. Banks also shall adopt innovative strategies. Egyptian youths inspired the world by their ambition and will, therefore state’s institutions shall learn from them, Amer stated.

State’s bodies in Egypt’s governorates have made administrative procedures difficult. Therefore, government employees working in these bodies shall be trained to facilitate these procedures for people.

Central Bank of Egypt has made a study on this sector, but it could not get full information about their places and activities. Supporting SMEs will not be through meetings and conferences, as there shall be vital mechanisms to get information about them and provide them with banking services.

15% of SMEs are financed by banks, meaning that banks’ notions are not changed since 1970s. The increasing budget’s deficit made banks reluctant to finance SMEs.

Amer said he visited Mexico four years ago and met a minister for small enterprises whose task is aiding the sector and market its products. In addition, Amer said Malaysia assigns three ministries for this sector which are ministry of human resources, ministry of science and technology and ministry of entrepreneurship. Amer asked about the government’s role and advancements in supporting this sector.

As 24% of youth do not work, Amer suggested making ministers set precise plans to decrease unemployment rates and shall be held accountable for failures.