With shock reform, Egypt throws out rules it long lived by

Forfeit genuine democracy and freedoms and, in return, you get to live on the cheap with heavy state subsidies keeping down prices of basic items and services — bread, sugar, rice, fuel, water and electricity.

[...] his government is keeping the iron grip it has held the past two years, curtailing freedoms, giving security forces a free rein, jailing thousands and managing a media machine that demonizes dissidents.

On Friday, Egypt received its reward for the painful shock therapy measures when the International Monetary Fund approved a $12 billion bailout package, including an immediate first installment of $2.75 billion.

The hope is that the bailout plus reforms will salvage state finances and signal to international investors to start putting money back into the country.

"What is required now ... is to liberate the political environment in parallel with the freeing of the economy from its shackles," political scientist Ahmed Abd Rabbou said in a column this week in the independent Al-Shorouq daily.

In the weeks leading up to the currency flotation and fuel price hikes, pro-government TV show hosts persistently berated Egyptians, saying they don't work hard enough, depend too much on handouts or consume too much food or fuel.

In this instance, they include ending political oppression, releasing detained young people, a more just distribution of burdens, introducing strict and tangible austerity in state institutions and fighting graft with actions, not just words, he wrote in a column on Wednesday.

In an article published this week, Ziad Bahaa el-Din, a former deputy prime minister, prescribed a remedy that includes reviewing el-Sissi's mega-projects, regulating state intervention in the economy and improving the business climate.