Forcing newly elected President Mohamed Morsy to approve the military council-designed state budget is unacceptable, especially considering that Egyptians would judge his performance based on his first year in office, argued Hassan al-Brince from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.

In an interview on the privately-owned Tahrir satellite channel on Monday, Brince said forcing the president to accept the budget diminishes his powers and makes him no more than a prime minister.

Brince described the new state budget as “catastrophic,” especially because it neglects the educational and health sectors, which have a budget of less than LE3 billion.

With Morsy as president, the Egyptian economy would be able to make up for the recent losses resulting from recession in investments, the decline of the tourism sector and an unstable stock market, Brince claimed.

Brince said economic reform has a close relationship to democracy, claiming that the stock market gained high profits once Morsy was declared president. He added that several tourism agencies are indicating increased investments in Sharm el-Sheikh and the Red Sea area in the coming period.

Brince condemned the ruling military council’s control over the state budget, as well as its ability to designate interior and foreign ministers. He said these should be the responsibilities of the newly elected president.