Egypt

Capital: Cairo

Local time:
It is %T:%M %A in Cairo

Exchange rate on :

GDP growth rate: 5.734% in 2012

FDI inward stock: 50 503 million USD in 2007

Country risk: See the country risk analysis from Egypt provided by Ducroire.

Economic trends

With the establishment of a new government in July 2004, Egypt launched an economic reforms program. Consequently, tariffs and taxes were lowered and simplified. The transparency of the national budget was reinforced and many privatizations were initiated. This new policy bore its fruits as after one year, growth recovered and reached 7.2% in 2008. However, in the context of the international economic crisis, growth fell again in 2009, reaching around 3%. An increase in imports generated a significant deficit in the trade balance and the good performance of services was not enough to balance a negative current account in 2009. These results come with a high rate of unemployment, as well as a high inflation rate (11.7% in 2008 and 16.5% in 2009), which is estimated to fall to 8.6% in 2010.

Main branches of industry

Agriculture contributes around 14% of the GDP and employs about a third of the active population. The warm climate and the abundant Nile water allows for several annual harvests. The main crops are cereals, cotton and sugar cane. Activities around gas and oil, as well as the secondary sector, contribute to a third of the GDP. The tertiary sector is significant and represents approximately 50% of the Egyptian GDP. It is largely dominated by revenue from tourism and telecommunications.

International trade

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 export partners are the European Union, which represents more than a third of the trade, United States and Syria. Its three primary import partners are the European Union, the United States and China. Egypt mainly exports mineral fuels and oil, cotton, iron and steel. It imports mainly consumer electronic goods and capital goods, nuclear reactors and nuclear-powered boilers, cereals, food products and chemical products. Import volume has doubled and is twice the export volume, a fact which contributed to the deterioration of the country's trade balance.