The President of Egypt Abdeil-Fattah El-Sisi has said the North African country needs to slow down birth rate to avoid a catastrophe.
President Sisi made the statement at the first Global Congress on Population, Health and Development when Egypt’s minister of health and population, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, said “having children is a matter of complete freedom”.
Sisi has of late been exploiting ways to grow Egypt’s economy amidst an economic crisis.
He explained that that Egypt needed to reduce its annual births to 400,000 from its current position of over two million to enable the country to adequately provide jobs and social services to its populace.
The country received a membership invitation from the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) in August.
Egypt will provide 127.7 billion Egyptian pounds ($4.14 billion) for its food subsidy program for the upcoming fiscal year beginning on July 1. This is an increase from 90 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.92 billion) the previous year.
The Egyptian head of state said, “Leaving their freedom to people who potentially do not know the extent of the challenge? In the end, it is the whole of society and the Egyptian state which will pay the price.”
He added that “We must organise this freedom otherwise it will create a catastrophe.”
The Egyptian president said reducing its birth rate will enable it succeed in its population control policy like China succeeded with its one-child policy.
According to the minister of health and population, Egypt has been one of Africa’s most populous countries since 2000, and has reached 105 million people from 40 million people.
President Sisi also said the continent lacks the sufficient resources to carter for its surging population and advised that other African countries adopt necessary population control measures.
According to official statistics, around a third of Egypt’s 105 million population lives in poverty. Many Egyptians rely on the government to maintain essential products cheap through state subsidies and other comparable programs.
Egypt’s petroleum ministry last month announced a new oil discovery in the Geisum and Tawila West Concession in the Gulf of Suez.