by Mahmoud Fouda
Economic and investment experts called for the need to have a chairman of the economic group in the government appointed by the prime minister to be in charge of issuing economic and investment resolutions that have been recently confusing.
Minister of Agriculture Dr. Salah Helal had taken a decision to cancel the import of cotton without referring it to the government. However, the decision angered investors who lodged complaints with officials and so the minister went back on his decision. The decision to halt the export of rice, taken a few months ago, caused the wasting of fees paid to the state treasury worth around $195 million and created an imbalance in the rice trade system on the local market due to the increase in demand.
Some experts see that taking decisions by the governments and then going back on them is not a negative thing but rather giving priority to the public interest. The crisis of Greece has forced officials and leading governments in Europe to take decisions and then go back on them and this does not mean failure or lack of professionalism. Any official should never take a decision unilaterally without referring it to the Cabinet and if this happens and the government saw differently then he should resign immediately.
Big Obstacle
On the other hand, some experts said taking investment decisions and then going back on them or what they termed as “confusion” in decisions, represents a big obstacle impeding attracting investments to Egypt. Therefore, the government should coordinate among its members to take a sound investment decision. They called on officials not to take investment decisions without referring them to the Cabinet, especially in light of the great media development and the speed in spreading news by various mass media.
Confusion in investment decisions will have a negative impact on local and foreign investment as well as production and exports.
Confusion
Experts asserted that to end these problems it is necessary to get rid of confusion in taking decisions by having a chairman of the economic group in the government to be assigned by the prime minister through which any investment or economic decisions are to be taken. The head of the economic group supervises the Central Bank and the ministries of trade and industry, finance, investment and agriculture so that the decisions would be unified and not affect investment negatively.
One expert believes that the reason behind the confusion in economic decisions is due to the ramification of many laws and the large number of officials. The investment decision is taken by unstudied means due to the presence of several unspecialised decision-makers.
He also pointed out that lack of specialisation threatens laws issued by the government which caused a delay in the latest executive regulations of the unified investment law that was issued without clearly defining the responsibilities of officials and ministries.
Therefore, I believe that the government should appoint a spokesman only to announce investment decisions, and in his absence the officials should not take such decisions without referring them to the Cabinet.
