Egypt needs to do a whole lot more to transform its economy, and it starts with dismantling the public sector. –former IMF director. Writing for the Financial Times (paywall)’s Beyondbrics blog, former IMF director for the Middle East and Central Asia George Abed writes: “The Fund programme represents a good start but it cannot produce the tangible improvements that ordinary Egyptians have long been waiting for. For that, Egypt needs to move beyond stabilisation and pursue a fundamental transformation of its economy. … a fundamental improvement in Egypt’s prospects requires the dismantling of the ossified structures of an economy that has evaded fundamental reform for decades. Egypt’s economy in this regard is akin to those of eastern and central Europe before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Its economy remains shackled by a public sector that is bloated, inefficient and unresponsive to market signals.” And some political reform wouldn’t hurt, either, Abed notes.