Egypt

Economic and political outline

Economic indicators | Foreign Trade in figures | Sources of economic information | Political outline

Economic indicators

When a new government came to power in July 2004, Egypt introduced an economic reform program. Consequently, prices and taxes were lowered and simplified. The transparence of the national budget was reinforced and many privatizations were initiated. This new policy bore its fruits since within a year, growth recovered and reached 7.1% in 2007. In spite of a significant deficit in the trade balance driven by increased imports, the current account remains balanced thanks to the good performance of services. However, these good results must be qualified compared to the high inflation rate (10% in 2007) and the high rate of unemployment.

GDP Indicators	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (billions USD)	78.80	89.79	107.38	127.93e	149.73e
GDP (constant prices, annual % change)	4.1	4.5	6.8	7.1e	7.3e
GDP per capita (USD)	1,136.62	1,269.77	1,488.61e	1,738.81e	1,995.19e
Inflation rate (%)	8.1	8.8	4.2	10.9e	7.8e
Unemployment rate (% of the labor force)	10.3	11.2	n.c.	n.c.	n.c.
Current Account (billions USD)	3.42	2.91	0.87	1.75e	1.22e
Current Account (in % of GDP)	4.3	3.2	0.8	1.4e	0.8e

Source: IMF - World Economic Outlook Database; ILO, Laborstat - Yearly Statistics

Note: (e) Estimated data

Socio-demographic indicators	2004	2005
Unemployment rate (%)	10.3	11.2

Source:

Main sectors of industry

Agriculture contributes nearly 14% of the GDP and uses about a third of the active population. Warm climate and abundant water from the Nile enable several crops in a year. The main crops are cereals, cotton and sugar cane. Oil and gas and secondary sector contribute up to 41% of the GDP. In fact the tertiary sector is significant and represents 45% of the Egyptian GDP. It is largely dominated by revenue from tourism and telecommunications.

Breakdown of economic activity by sector	Agriculture	Industry	Services
Value added (annual % change)	3.3	5.2	5.6
Value added (in % of GDP)	14.9	36.1	49.0
Employment by sector (in % of total employment)	29.9	19.8	50.4

Source: World Bank - World Development Indicators - last available data.

Monetary indicators	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Average annual exchange rate for 1 USD	4.50	5.85	6.20	5.78	5.73

Source: World Bank - World Development Indicators

Foreign trade in figures

The Egyptian market is gradually opening up especially after signing an agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 2006, and a free trade treaty with the United States. Its three primary partners for export are: the European Union which represents more than a third of trade, United States (10%) and Syria (5.7%). Its three primary partners for import are: the European Union (more than 12%), Unites States (12%) and China (10%). Egypt mainly exports mineral fuels and oils, cotton, iron and steel. It mainly imports consumer electronic goods and capital goods, nuclear reactors and nuclear-powered boilers, cereals, food products and chemical products. Import volume has doubled. It is double the exports which contributed to the reduction of the trade balance of this country.

Foreign trade indicators	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Imports of goods (millions USD)	12,879	13,189	18,895	23,818	n.c.
Exports of goods (millions USD)	7,118	8,987	12,320	16,073	n.c.
Imports of services (millions USD)	6,629	6,474	8,020	10,508	n.c.
Exports of services (millions USD)	9,320	11,073	14,197	14,643	n.c.
Imports of goods and services (annual % change)	-6.0	1.3	17.2	23.8	n.c.
Exports of goods and services (annual % change)	-7.8	13.8	25.3	22.5	n.c.
Imports of goods and services (in % of GDP)	22.7	24.4	29.6	32.6	33.7
Exports of goods and services (in % of GDP)	18.3	21.8	28.2	30.3	31.3
Trade Balance (millions USD)	-5,762	-4,201	-6,576	-7,745	n.c.
Trade Balance (including service) (millions USD)	-3,071	398	-399	-3,611	n.c.
Current Account (millions USD)	622	3,743	3,922	2,103	n.c.
Current Account (in % of GDP)	0.7	4.5	5.0	2.3	n.c.
Foreign trade (in % of GDP)	41.0	46.2	57.8	63.0	65.0

Source: World Bank - World Development Indicators

Main partner countries

Main customers (% of exports)	2006
India	10.1%
Italy	9.2%
United States	8.7%
Spain	7.5%

Main suppliers (% of imports)	2006
United States	7.8%
Saudi Arabia	6.9%
China	5.8%
Italy	5.3%

Source: 2006

Main products

Main exports (% of exports)	2006
Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products, etc	55.7%
Iron and steel	5.9%
Salt, sulphur, earth, stone, plaster, lime and cement	3.2%
Plastics	2.9%

Main imports (% of imports)	2006
Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products, etc	16.3%
Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery, etc	9.0%
Cereals	7.3%
Electrical, electronic equipment	5.5%

Source: 2006

To see more products: More imports (Intracen Data)
More exports (Intracen Data)

Sources of economic information

Ministries: Ministry of Finance Ministry of Investment Ministry of Trade and Industry
Statistical Office: Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.
Central Bank: Central Bank
Stock Exchange: Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange
Online newspapers: Al-Ahram Weekly
Cairo Times
The Daily News Egypt
Search Engines: Egypt Search
EgyptSites.com
Sourceegypte.com
Economic portals: Ministry of Finance
Zawya: website containing economic information on the Middle East.
Alibaba: Economic portal on the Middle East.

Political outline

Executive Power: The president is the head of state. He is elected by universal suffrage for a 6-year term of office (no limit for extension). He appoints the Prime Minister who must be approved by a confidence vote in the parliament. The President also appoints the head of the Council of Ministers. He can dissolve the Assembly and rule by decree. He holds almost total power.
Legislative Power: The legislative power is bicameral. The Parliament is formed by the People's Assembly (the lower house) which has 454 members (of which 444 are elected by universal suffrage and 10 are nominated by the President for a 5-year term) and the Advisory Council (the upper house) which plays only an advisory role and which has 264 members (of which 176 are elected by universal suffrage and 88 appointed by the president for a 6-year term). The president can dissolve the People's Assembly only if he has the support of the people during a referendum.
Main political parties: The multi-party system was restored in 1976 by the then president Sadate. However, in practice it is the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) which completely dominates the political arena. The Muslim brothers, a brotherhood created in 1928 by Hassan El Banna is the main opposition party of the country. They were banned but in spite of it, they were able to win 88 seats in the People's Assembly in the 2005 elections. The other opposition parties like Wafd, El-Ghad or the Nasserian Party are minority parties and were nearly wiped out in the 2005 elections.
Current political leaders: President: Mohammed Hosni Mubarak (since October 1981, re-elected for a fifth term of six years in the country's first multi-candidate elections in September 2005) – NDP
Prime Minister: Ahmed Nazif (since December 2005) – NDP
Next election dates: Presidential: in 2011
People's Assembly: November-December 2010
Advisory Council: in 2013