Twelve years of driving Egyptians into poverty

Twelve years have passed since the 30 June 2013 protests, without granting Egyptians what they had hoped for, despite the grand promises made by then Minister of Defence, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

That day paved the way for a military coup on 3 July of the same year, which overthrew the country’s first democratically elected civilian president, the late Mohamed Morsi, who died in detention in June 2019.

Power was temporarily handed over to the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, for one year, after which El-Sisi rose to power through elections held in May 2014, winning with 96.91 per cent of the vote, amid opposition doubts about the integrity of the process.

El-Sisi’s promises

“Tomorrow you will see Egypt,” “Egypt is the mother of the world and will be as great as the world,” “You are the light of our eyes,” “This people has not found anyone to show them compassion” are examples of the slogans and promises made by the current president to his people, but they were all swept away.

Blood and tears overshadowed the Egyptian regime’s celebrations of the 12th anniversary of the June 30 protests, which coincided with the death of 19 girls in a horrific accident on a highway constructed by army-affiliated companies and inaugurated by El-Sisi on 9 September 2018.

The Regional Ring Road, which was the scene of the “Monufia girls” accident last Friday, has witnessed 63 accidents since its opening, resulting in 116 deaths and 470 injuries, according to Egyptian newspapers.

After the accident, El-Sisi instructed his government to increase compensation to 100,000 EGP (about 2,000 USD) for each fatality and 25,000 EGP (500 USD) for each injury, without dismissing any official responsible for the incident.

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The Egyptian president marked the anniversary of 30 June 2013, and in a recorded speech last Monday, called on Egyptians to stand united, while ignoring to send his prime minister to offer condolences to the families of the victims—girls who were returning from working in grape harvesting for a meagre daily wage not exceeding 130 EGP (2.6 USD).

Egyptians suffer from severe deterioration in living and economic conditions, a sharp rise in the prices of goods and services, and a collapse in the local currency, which has depreciated from about 7 EGP per dollar to nearly 50 EGP.

Foreign debt has more than tripled during El-Sisi’s rule, rising from around $43 billion to $155.1 billion by the end of 2024, according to the Central Bank of Egypt.

Interest on the debt consumes 79 per cent of Egypt’s budget revenues. With El-Sisi’s continued reliance on borrowing, the country remains tightly bound to the IMF’s demands, including subsidy cuts, asset privatisation, and currency devaluation.

Low indicators

In recent years, Egypt’s global rankings have declined. It ranked 90^th out of 133 countries in the 2023 Global Knowledge Index, and 136^th out of 142 countries in the 2023 Rule of Law Index issued by the World Justice Project (WJP).

Egypt ranked 135^th out of 146 countries in the World Happiness Index, and 84^th out of 88 countries in the 2024 Quality of Life Index.

Egypt ranked 130^th out of 180 countries in the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, according to Transparency International, and 170^th out of 180 countries in the 2025 Press Freedom Index, issued by Reporters Without Borders.

In contrast, Egypt ranked high globally as the seventh largest arms importer in the world during the period 2019–2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Egypt also ranked sixth globally in terms of the number of imprisoned journalists during the past year, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

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Achievements of 30 June

Supporters say that El-Sisi saved Egypt from the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, which the authorities classify as a terrorist organisation, despite the group’s victory in all electoral entitlements that followed the 25 January 2011 revolution.

The Egyptian president implemented a series of mega projects, most notably the new administrative capital, an extensive network of roads and bridges, new residential cities, museums, in addition to the expansion of the Suez Canal, and the establishment of the largest mosque, church, and opera house in the region.

Supporters of 30 June attribute the economic and living downturn to external reasons such as the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian war, the wars in Gaza and Sudan, and the escalation between Iran and Israel.

However, Egyptian journalist Gamal Sultan, who resides abroad, stated in a Facebook post that “the persistent rhetoric about 30 June will not conceal the corruption that the country is drowning in today, nor will it hide the poverty, need, and suffering people are living through. It will not give people any glimmer of hope that there is light at the end of the dark tunnel Egypt entered after 2013.”

Around 60,000 people, including academics, journalists, human rights defenders, women, and children, are behind bars for political reasons, according to Amnesty International.

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Military dominance

The growing influence of the military establishment and the expansion of generals’ business ventures were the most prominent features of the past 12 years. These developments enriched army officers immensely and impoverished nearly two-thirds of the Egyptian population—around 60 per cent of Egyptians are either poor or in greater need, according to World Bank reports.

With the militarisation of the Egyptian economy, the influence of the generals has extended to politics, media, judiciary, and sports. In every governorate, the military governor became a parallel authority to the civilian governor, and army and police generals dominated the positions of governors, ministers, district heads, city officials, party leaders, company boards, and sports clubs.

Politically, the 30 June 30 coalition that supported the coup has evaporated. Leaders of the “National Salvation Front” that opposed Morsi were sidelined, such as former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei and former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi. Some ended up in prison before being released later, such as Hazem Abdel Azim, Khaled Dawoud, Ziad Al-Eleimi, and others.

A political researcher, who requested anonymity, described 30 June as a political, strategic, and economic sin that paved the way for coup supporters to pay a heavy price, pointing to the concession of the Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia in 2016, granting the UAE the right to manage and operate about 10 Egyptian ports, and allowing it to take control of Ras El-Hekma area on the Mediterranean coast last year.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the biggest allies of the Egyptian president, having supported his regime with tens of billions of dollars in grants, aid, loans, deposits, and direct investments.

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Rising poverty

With tax revenues increasing by 36 per cent to 1.95 trillion EGP, equivalent to about 87 per cent of total Egyptian treasury revenues, according to official data, Egyptians groan under what they describe as a “tax-collection government.”

Egyptians enter a new year under military rule, with a minimum wage of 7,000 EGP (140 USD), which barely equals one and a half grams of gold (currently priced at 4,600 EGP per gram). They cannot afford to eat meat even once a week, as the price of one kilogram has reached 400 EGP (8 USD).

Egypt ranks second among the lowest-paid countries in the world and 95^th overall, with an average monthly wage of around 117.85 USD, according to data analysis firm FinderPass.

More than 11 million Egyptian retirees live below the poverty line, receiving monthly pensions of around 3,000 EGP (about 60 USD), which is approximately 2 USD per day—below the new global poverty line of 2.15 USD per person per day, as estimated by the World Bank.

Quasi-state

Despite the 2019 constitutional amendments extending the presidential term from 4 to 6 years and securing El-Sisi’s stay in power until 2030, the Egyptian president has not allowed any real political breakthrough.

From time to time, dozens of opposition figures are released under presidential pardons, but the security forces continue their frenzied efforts to widen the circle of suspicion and conduct periodic arrests.

Human rights lawyer and leftist activist Haitham Mohamedain publicly apologised on his Facebook page, saying: “We were misled into participating in 6/30. We quickly withdrew before 7/3 and declared a clear and explicit position against the military coup at the time. We will continue to acknowledge this grave mistake and not justify it.”

In May 2016, El-Sisi addressed Egyptians, saying: “We are not an actual state… this is a quasi-state.” In January 2017, he surprised them again by saying: “We are very poor,” and last Monday, he reminded them once more: “The burdens are heavy, and the challenges are immense”, thus personally embodying the outcome of 12 years of driving Egyptians into poverty.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.