Shortly after taking office in October,1981, Mubarak launched his national scheme with an agenda topped by economic development based on scientific studies and experts’ advice. He believed that economic and social development should be a long-term constant process with a planned program. He held the Economic Conference in February, 1982, where scholars underscored the importance of adopting an ambitious five-year plan strategy. Consequently, in 1982, a comprehensive development plan was launched with a bunch of five-year plans still underway up till the present time.
In the first stage, the development process was dedicated to building-up a strong infrastructure and scheduling debts to remove the hurdles before the march. However, such development was accompanied by a comprehensive gradual reform process, in conformity with the president’s vision and thought, namely providing main prerequisites of good life to Egyptians. He believed that economic and human resources development ought to be a precondition for the application of democracy.
The development process was going steadily when great changes in the world resulted in a new phase of economic competence to replace the past conflict of ideologies. Mubarak then believed that the Egyptian economy must undergo some radical change to cope with globalization trends emerging. So, securing a steady progress of the infrastructure build-up, he launched the biggest economic reform program to enhance the Egyptian economic performance via increasing production and productivity, doubling exports and curbing imports. The reform was also meant to encourage investment, activate the private sector and drive down deficits of the general budget and balance of payments so as to curb inflation. However, the reform was not only stuck to theories as special care was paid to the people with limited income.