 In 2013, Egypt's President Major General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was part of the people who overthrew the Egyptian presidency at the time and seemingly rescued Egypt from the darkness and authoritarianism of the Muslim Brotherhood. In June 2014, President Al-Sisi was sworn in as President of Egypt in response to calls from his supporters to run for the presidency and he promised the people a renaissance. However, it's now 10 years after the military coup and 9 years into his presidency and that promise has not been fulfilled. Instead, Egypt is decaying, poverty and income inequality remain ridiculously high and the economy is the worst since its history as a country. What is the reason? What is the cause? Why is Egypt currently in this state? Like every other African country, the problem lies in its leader, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. So how has President Al-Sisi pushed Egypt to its current state and is there any hope? Let's find out in this video. When President Al-Sisi came into power in 2014, he felt he was ruling over an oil-rich country like Saudi Arabia or a country efficient in manufacturing exports like China, so he decided to go on a spending spree. Now, if this spending were on necessities that would improve food sufficiency for an expanding population or somehow improve the economy, it would have been good. However, President Al-Sisi and his military government have focused on mega projects that are supposed to benefit the country. But on closer inspection, these projects have no impact on economic growth. Rather, they are just to elevate Egypt's status, meaning they are more like symbols. One such project is Egypt's new administrative capital city, a project President Sisi announced in 2015. Now, as you very well know, Egypt already has a capital city, Cairo, so why did the President decide to build a new city? Egypt's population is growing, leading to congestion and pollution in Cairo, its capital city. In fact, it's a well-known fact that Cairo has one of the highest population densities in the world, with about 22 million people living in greater Cairo. So, to relieve congestion and pollution in Cairo, the government decided to build a new city located in the Sahara Desert about 45 kilometers east of Egypt. It may seem like a good idea, but frankly speaking, it's a waste of resources because just the first phase of this new capital city cost over $45 billion. Imagine how much money will go into the project before it's eventually completed. The President has repeatedly stated that the project won't cost the state anything, but reports have shown that this project was undertaken through debt, budget allocation, the sale of state lands from one government entity to another, and government subsidized loans. This has contributed to Egypt's current ranking as the second most indebted country in the world after Ukraine. In addition to the construction of a new capital city, President Al-Sisi has also embarked on numerous costly projects, including weapons acquisitions whose exact value is not known but which have placed Egypt among the top five arms purchasers in the world, meaning the amount of money is certainly no small amount. There is also the $25 billion nuclear reactor to produce power in a country that has more electricity than it can use, an $8 billion expansion of Suez Canal capacity that has yet to generate any significant revenue, building a summer capital called New Alamein, and reviving a failed Mubarak-era mega-project aimed at watering a new valley to the west of the Nile. The cost of all these projects and others not mentioned has wiped out all the loan investments, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States by way of the IMF have made in Sisi and Egypt's economic well-being. And this has led to an increase in Egypt's international debt to $163 billion and its total debt to 93% of its GDP, meaning that Egypt is in a debt trap where it has to borrow more money to pay its debt. Interestingly, to finance some of its projects, the Egyptian government sometimes resorts to using public bond offerings which give negative returns when accounting for currency devaluation or through taxation which takes more from the poor than the rich. The government has begun to put taxes on everything including marriage. Shocking, right? Well, when it was first announced, Egyptians thought it was a joke too until the president announced it himself. Now, while the country is struggling with so much debt and the people are suffering under this atmosphere, the Egyptian elites made up of the military are getting richer and fatter. Most of the construction companies that are awarded the contracts for these mega projects are owned by retired generals or by members of the security apparatus who have risen under President Al-Sisi and are backers of the president's regime. So in essence, President Al-Sisi's government has not just accrued debt to finance its ridiculous mega projects but also squeezed the population and the private sector of their financial blood. In conjunction with the IMF, the government of Egypt has removed many food and fuel subsidies without sufficient measures to scale up the country's social security system and mitigate the harm. Currently, social assistance cash transfer programs hardly cover a third of the 60 million people living near or in poverty out of the 100 million population. State-owned companies which employ thousands of people have been shut down or privatized leading to an increase in the unemployment rate. Governmental fees for public education are increasing, a plot the government intends to use to move their children to private schools in which the government is investing public funds through several startup public-private partnerships with international corporate educational service providers. It can rightly be said that the citizens of Egypt are paying more and getting less and less from their government. Citizens are suffering and President Al-Sisi is very much aware of the economic situation and the current state of Egypt but instead of finding solutions, he has resorted to absolving himself from responsibility, blaming external factors such as the Israeli-Palestinian War and scolding Egyptians for their democratic aspirations. He has joined a long list of autocrats who view development not as a human right but as a benefit or a gift from the ruler to the people and repeatedly telling Egyptians that the solution is to continue to sacrifice their rights and be patient, otherwise criticism and opposition can destroy the country. The question is, how could President Sisi and his cohorts continue to run Egypt in this manner and continue to receive support from the international community and maintain its international standing? Well, the answer is something we are all familiar with. It's all about interests. Europe continues to pump money and support President Sisi because they fear an exponential increase in the number of Egyptians fleeing the country to seek better lives in Europe. Already, more and more Egyptians are already leaving the country. The United States on its part continues to send military aid to Egypt because it's worried about China's growing influence in the Middle East and does not want to lose Egypt. However, it's very possible that the aid and other efforts by the United States to keep Egypt on its side have only little impact because Egyptian officials do not want to choose between the United States and China. As for Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, they throw their support behind Egypt because of its huge population and well-equipped military, which they believe would make them not so vulnerable to the Iranian threat. However, over the last decade, the Saudis and Emiratis have become less solicitous toward the Egyptians and are no longer willing to transfer money directly to Egypt's Treasury, preferring instead to invest in state assets or projects that have the seal of approval from international financial institutions. Nevertheless, Egyptian officials still believe that when the time comes, Gulf leaders will step in to rescue Egypt's economy. Now comes the big question, is there any hope? According to some analysts, the countdown to a social or political explosion has already begun because there is no way that people will continue to keep calm under these circumstances. Although mass street protests have not yet started in Egypt because the president has ruled with coercion so there is still some kind of fear, it's very clear that the country is collapsing before the eyes of Egyptians. And since it's unlikely that President Sisi would change, the anger of the people would grow until it spills into protest and demonstrations, which will be met by brutal repression from the government. The whole situation is like a time bomb, waiting to explode. The international community may be able to delay the inevitable by offering lifelines, thinking it can convince the government to reform. But the fact is, Egypt is heading for a disaster caused solely by its president who doesn't seem like he plans to change. So the only way forward for Egypt is a path that does not include President Sisi or the military as the executive authority. And frankly speaking, without that change, Egypt is heading towards an unknown and dark future. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share this video.