who became president in 1981 following Anwar Sadat’s
assassination, ruled with the NDP until being forced from
power by popular protests and the military in February
2011, as we discussed in the Preface (this page).
Major businesspeople were appointed to key
government posts in areas closely related to their
economic interests. Rasheed Mohamed Rasheed, former
president of Unilever AMET (Africa, Middle East, and
Turkey), became minister of foreign trade and industry;
Mohamed Zoheir Wahid Garana, the owner and managing
director of Garana Travel Company, one of the largest in
Egypt, became minister of tourism; Amin Ahmed Mohamed
Osman Abaza, founder of the Nile Cotton Trade Company,
the largest cotton-exporting company in Egypt, became
minister of agriculture.
In many sectors of the economy, businessmen
persuaded the government to restrict entry through state
regulation. These sectors included the media, iron and
steel, the automotive industry, alcoholic beverages, and
cement. Each sector was very concentrated with high entry
barriers protecting the politically connected businessmen
and firms. Big businessmen close to the regime, such as
Ahmed Ezz (iron and steel), the Sawiris family (multimedia,
beverages, and telecommunications), and Mohamed
Nosseir (beverages and telecommunications) received not
only protection from the state but also government contracts
and large bank loans without needing to put up collateral.
Ahmed Ezz was both the chairman of Ezz Steel, the largest
company in the country’s steel industry, producing 70
percent of Egypt’s steel, and also a high-ranking member
of the NDP, the chairman of the People’s Assembly Budget
and Planning Committee, and a close associate of Gamal
Mubarak, one of President Mubarak’s sons.
The economic reforms of the 1990s promoted by
international financial institutions and economists were
aimed at freeing up markets and reducing the role of the
state in the economy. A key pillar of such reforms
everywhere was the privatization of state-owned assets.
Mexican privatization (this page–this page), instead of
increasing competition, simply turned state-owned
monopolies into privately owned monopolies, in the
process enriching politically connected businessmen such