Egypt’s Brothers need an economic policy

For weeks now, western visitors have been trooping in and out of the offices of the Freedom and Justice party (FJP), the Muslim Brotherhood’s newly licensed political arm in Cairo. They conduct earnest conversations on the fake leather sofas, contemplate the Koran quotations framed on the office walls and try to figure out what, exactly, Egypt’s most powerful independent political grouping really wants. Most questions concern sharia, the rights of women or Egypt’s policy towards Israel. But the Egyptian revolution was also an economic revolution. If the Freedom and Justice party took power, what are the Muslim Brotherhood’s economic plans?

If outsiders aren’t asking this question, it may be because the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t asking it either. Saad al-Katatni, the FJP’s head, cheerfully admitted to a group of economists: “I don’t know much about the economy” – though he assured us that others in the FJP do.

The Brotherhood leadership’s lack of interest in the economy should worry us at least as much as its ideological and religious posturing. Egypt’s democratic transition may well depend upon whether a new government can salvage ailing public finances and set the country on a trajectory for growth. Creative thinking about economic reforms – and the courage to pursue them – is essential if life is to improve.