Strikes seriously damaging Egypt's economy

The strikes that have hit Egypt since January's revolution have cost the economy an estimated LE37 billion. Worried economists and politicians warn that, unless employees and workers cool off, the nation's economy will continue to deteriorate.

Teachers, physicians, public transport employees, drivers, technicians and even workers in the Red Sea's Port Ain Sokhna have been striking.

Economists led by Hussein Ebeid, professor of Economics at Ain Shams University, maintain that no fewer than 6.5 million employees and workers could lose their jobs, if the strikes don't stop. Prof. Ebeid implies that heavy economic casualties are an inevitable result of any revolution.

“Revolutions traditionally cause appalling damage to the economy and destabilise the domestic market,” he explains, indicating that businesspeople and investors become worried and restless, especially if the poor pioneer a revolution.

The professor of economics stresses that the strikes should stop and that the Egyptians should do their homework properly. “We should all work hard and better use our resources, in order to ensure a better future,” he adds.

“[The entire Egyptian nation] should commit itself to its national, post-revolution duties and responsibilities; if not, the National Democratic Party (NDP) lobbyists will exploit the instability to launch a devastating counter-revolution.”

A veteran economist appealed in the local press to the striking workers to be on their guard, lest their protests be cynically exploited by anti-revolution elements and anarchists.

Claiming that these subversive elements belong to the disgraced NDP, Ibrahim Shalabi says that these people should be denied the opportunity to weaken and indeed thwart the revolution.

While the economic expert supports the workers' statutory right to demonstrate, he urges them not to down their tools, indicating that, because of the many strikes, Egypt's growth rate has fallen from six per cent to 2.5 per cent.

The striking workers have also been advised by a sociologist to suspend their financial demands until the nation has recovered economically and politically.

Professor Azza Karim of the National Centre for Criminological and Social Research says: “Workers should only step up the pressure [on the Government] to appreciate their demands, when their country is more stable.”