'Aggressive' bid wins Romania wheat sale to Egypt

The trial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak is not, as some claim, either the climax or the end of the revolution mounted by millions of Egyptians in January and February. The Mubarak trial marks, instead, the beginning of the end of an era characterized by a lack of accountability.

On the economic level, the era of unaccountability began when Mubarak’s predecessor, Anwar Sadat, began to dismantle the centrally controlled socialist economy installed by President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Sadat introduced free market reforms which during Mubarak’s reign were accelerated under the guidance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. This transformed the socio-economic situation in Egypt.

While businessmen close to Mubarak, entrepreneurs with capital to invest, and banks flourished, the middle class was stretched, and the poor slipped more deeply into poverty. Health, educational and social services declined while the population rose to 80 million, the majority living below the poverty line. This is why the uprising adopted, as its ultimate objective, economic and social justice for all Egyptians.

It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the post-uprising government — which is sensitive to public suspicion of international lending institutions — refused loans offered by the IMF and World Bank at reasonable rates but with unacceptable conditions.