EL SISI ECON SPEECH: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi briefed the nation on the state of the economy during the inauguration of the Bashayer El Kheir projects in the Gheit El Enab area of Alexandria. The project is being touted as the first time the government has worked with civil society on informal housing.

El Sisi hit illegal migration right out of the gate, calling on the Egyptian people to back his plan to clamp down on unregulated migration into and out of Egypt.

El Sisi blamed inflation in part on a rise in spending on public-sector wages. Increased purchasing power hasn’t been met with an equivalent rise in supply, he said, saying public-sector wages have gone up EGP 150 bn in the last five years, while pensions have risen EGP 53 bn and some 2.5 mn families are now benefiting from some form of social assistance.

More large-scale projects: The government has in the pipeline job-creating projects including two fish farms (in East Port Said and Kafr El Sheikh). It will offer by October the first 500k feddans of the 1.5 mn feddan land reclamation project and will build 100k greenhouses that will be 5-10x more productive per feddan than standard agriculture while eliminating wastage and spoilage, El Sisi said.

Don’t forget the little guy: El Sisi said that he had instructed Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil to market industrial projects to smaller investors as complete packages that include land, corporate documentation and all necessary licenses.

Separately, El Sisi vowed to provide sewage systems to 50% of villages across the nation by 2018, as well as eliminate Hepatitis C in two years. The president also provided more details on the national social housing project, claiming that 600k housing units are set to be completed by next June, with the entire nationwide project, which will cover around 300 regions, set to be fully completed by June of 2018.

During his remarks on housing, El Sisi floated the idea that citizens should make financial contributions to help complete low-income housing, suggesting they could start with “50 piasters here and there.” Watch the full address (Arabic, 51:23) and or read the full transcript (in Arabic) at Ahram Gate.