African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1120: Chapter 129: New Economic Policy

Prussia Wang referred to Huai Cuisine, which is actually Huai’an Cuisine. In fact, it was an important part of the Huaiyang Cuisine from the past life. The history of the formation of the four major cuisines of the Far East is not considered long. Of course, this is relative to the long history of the Far East Empire, since the formation of the four major cuisines already happened in the Qing Dynasty.

Huai’an Cuisine holds an important position within the domestic cuisines of East Africa, primarily because the initial immigrants from the Far East Empire were mostly from Huai’an. The East African immigrants from the Far East Empire were mainly centered around the Huaihai Region, and just from the name alone, one can tell Huai’an is closely related to the Huaihai Region. Prussia Wang’s father was a native of Huai’an Prefecture, while Prussia Wang can actually be considered a native East African.

Regarding the master’s teachings, Anka nodded in agreement: ”I will definitely not disgrace the master. Although my culinary skills are not refined, they are sufficient. After all, I never planned to enter the high-end market from the beginning, but rather to start with the needs of ordinary people. With this level of culinary skill, it is enough.”

Prussia Wang: ”It’s good that you have such awareness. Actually, your culinary skills are not too bad, it’s just that in a place like the Berlin Restaurant, which is full of hidden talents, it’s somewhat unremarkable. So perhaps venturing out is more suitable for you...”

A week later, Anka successfully registered his small restaurant, which was located not far from the Provincial Hemp Textile Factory No. 2. This is actually where his parents reside. Although Anka insisted on opening the shop, leading his parents to ”support” him reluctantly, his mother, being a worker at the textile factory, could help with some publicity, and his parents could also lend a hand after work.

...

In Harare City, there are quite a few people who shared the same idea as Anka. Suddenly, a large number of photo studios, tailor shops, restaurants, hotels sprang up. Some with economic capabilities even founded moderately scaled small factories.

Harare City is merely a microcosm of numerous cities within East Africa. The economic reforms by the East African government this time involved many inland regions, and for a while, the private economy in East Africa rose rapidly.

The characteristic of these private enterprises is that they are small in scale and large in number; some don’t even have employees, with the boss handling multiple roles, essentially being self-employed.

Accompanying these developments are expansions in the East African Tax Bureau, Police Department, and Fire Department, mainly to cope with potential social unrest caused by management deficiencies during the initial phase of economic transition.

In an economic meeting, Ernst emphasized to government officials: ”Reform must proceed step by step; relaxation does not mean chaos. Of course, policies in the early phase should be lenient. As long as it doesn’t go overboard, we may turn a blind eye, but turning a blind eye does not imply inaction. We must summarize experiences and learn lessons so that we can gradually standardize in the future.”

”Our bottom line is to prevent large-scale criminal activities. If someone exploits loopholes in the law, let’s note it down first and patch it next time.”

Ernst is fully aware that during the current phase, East Africa’s new economic policies would inevitably provide opportunities for speculators, but that’s unavoidable.

In past lives, both the Soviet Union and Far East Empire encountered similar situations; however, their choices differed, leading to two different outcomes, yet both can be described as a collapse in social order during the early stages of economic reform.

This is almost unavoidable, hence Ernst doesn’t have high expectations for the East African government, as long as overall stability is maintained, things can be straightened out slowly in the future.

After all, East Africa differs from the Soviet Union or Far East Empire in past lives, without interference from external powers, so the East African government has the time to slowly adapt to societal changes.

The world today is diverse; European and American countries are preoccupied, and no other country would dare provoke a great power like East Africa, making external conditions for East Africa to implement the new economic policy far superior to those of the Soviet Union and Far East Empire.

Ernst said, ”State-owned enterprises should be prepared too. As parts of the market are liberalized, original economic sectors will no longer form monopolies; they will face competition from private enterprises, so some state-owned enterprises need to adapt to market reforms, especially in non-key industries.”

Non-key industries refer to those not pivotal to the national economy’s main arteries. Although the new economic policy is executed, the advantageous position of East African state-owned and collective enterprises in East Africa’s economy cannot be replaced.

”The National Planning Commission must make corresponding adjustments to guide non-planned economic subjects through policies, promoting healthy and rational development of our industries. This does not mean reducing powers, but rather requiring higher capabilities and qualities from us.”

In past lives, planned economy in the Far East Empire did not disappear; instead, it continued to influence the country’s economic development in different forms, albeit after a long period of exploration and adjustment.

East Africa is no different, and this new economic policy is actually laying the groundwork for exploring future East African economic development models, signaling yet another economic transition in East Africa.

This transition, in reality, is unfamiliar to East African government including Ernst, but Ernst, armed with experiences from past lives, remains confident in implementing the new economic policy.

If the economic system truly rigidifies, it would then be difficult for East Africa to pivot, risking repeating the Soviet Union’s past life mistakes.

Moreover, Ernst chose a rather opportune time for conducting economic reforms in East Africa. During this period, the skies of Europe already faintly hint at smoke and flames, while other places are uncertain. However, he can confirm that the orchestration by countries on the Balkan Peninsula against the Ottoman Empire is already well underway.

Therefore, starting next year, European countries will focus their attention on the Balkan Peninsula. Once the war in the Balkan Peninsula concludes, a full-scale war in Europe is likely not far off.

Thus, within the next five to six years, whatever domestic turmoil East African government gets into will hardly elicit intervention from external forces, greatly alleviating the pressure on East Africa in implementing new economic policies.

Moreover, with the outbreak of war in Europe, international market prosperity is inevitable, which also benefits East Africa’s development of new economic policies. Economic growth can mask many problems, and if war erupts in Europe, East Africa’s domestic economic reforms can be made up for in the international market regardless of outcome, without hindering East African economic development.

Thus, the coming years will be a crucial period for East African economic development. If a full-scale war in Europe develops like it did in the past life, East Africa will likely not have to worry about economic issues for at least the next ten years.

Even after the European war ends, the short-term reconstruction in Europe can continue to maintain a heated international market, and only after the war’s economic frenzy passes should East Africa make necessary adjustments.

At present, Ernst is more concerned about the potential domestic social order disturbances caused by the enforcement of the new economic policy, hence East Africa will expand law enforcement and other administrative departments, severely cracking down on criminal activities with severe influences.

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Accompanying the advancement of new economic policies, East African national management indeed faced massive troubles—humans die for wealth, birds perish for food. With the opening of the economic market, criminal activities indeed erupted suddenly as predicted by the East African government.

The main reason lies in deficiencies in system and law; East Africa lacks market economy governance experience, leading to many mistakes, though overall things remain within controllable limits.

Accompanying the push of new economic policies, the benefits also become apparent, primarily the acceleration of urban population growth. Flexible employment facilitates more rural populations to move into urban work; although not formalized, they can support themselves, and there is a notable increase in the types of merchandise on the market. Although mostly consisting of small-scale workshop products with supervision lacking leading to uneven quality, it cannot be denied that the categories of goods have indeed increased, and the quality varies greatly, cannot be generalized.

Lastly, under East Africa’s new economic policy, investments from Austria, Germany, France, America, and the United Kingdom in East Africa noticeably increased, greatly alleviating East African government’s financial pressure. Among these, British investment surged rapidly following the reconciliation between the two countries, becoming one of the important sources of foreign investment.