In a phone interview with Al-Hadath news channel, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris spoke to TV presenter Lamees Al-Hadidi about his economic perspective on the ongoing situation and the future of the curfew. The comments he made sparked a controversial debate that has led his name (#نجيب_ساويرس) to the top trends of Twitter in Egypt.
Egypt’s second-richest man has stated on Al-Hadidi’s late-night show that he believes that government officials must put together a decisive plan to rescue the economy, otherwise, economists should expect to see a bloodbath in the stock market over the upcoming week, with the value of some companies plummeting as low as 10 percent of their original worth.
Sawiris pleaded the policymakers to not extend the curfew stating jokingly that he would ‘commit suicide if the curfew period was extended’. The Egyptian businessman wants Egyptians to get back to work once the two-week curfew imposed is lifted in hopes of steering clear from a total economic collapse.
“We need a revolutionary decision, regardless of the consequences. Even if people get sick, they will recover,” he told Al-Hadidi.
The chairman of Orascom Telecom Media provided three solutions for the problem so that Egyptians can return to their jobs en masse without risking the spread of the virus. His first suggestion was to divide the workforce into two groups, with one working on even-numbered days and the other working on odd-numbered days. Another solution was to offer employees to sleep in factories after work hours to limit their movement and with it the transmission of COVID-19. His final suggestion was to increase the import of test kits to enable people to detect illness and quarantine themselves at home if they start to exhibit symptoms.
The 59-year-old mogul said: “It only kills 1 percent of patients, who are mostly elderly people,” to which Al-Hadidi responded saying that the mortality percentage in Egypt is currently at 6 percent. Sawiris replied stating that Egypt has considerably lower numbers compared to other nations.
The comments were received with outrage and criticism on social media as many accused Sawiris of prioritizing profit in a time of national crisis. In response, the billionaire took to his Twitter account to further clarify his views.
Some took their criticism even further asking the government to apply a wealth tax on the richest 1 percent and allocate the funds collected to provide aid to patients of COVID-19.
Earlier this week, Sawiris posted a tweet asking people of all religions to dedicate an hour of their day to pray for the end of the pandemic.