Egypt

As the largest non-OPEC oil producer in Africa as well as the continent’s second-largest natural gas producer, Egypt’s hydrocarbons resources and production play a central role in the nation’s economy. While the sector was nationalised in the 1960s, more recent reorganisations have created separate authorities for oil, gas and petrochemicals, which has allowed the private sector to play a bigger...

It has been a difficult few years for Egypt’s economically vital tourism sector, in the wake of the 2011 revolution and with civil unrest continuing to occur in the summer of 2013. However, the country still managed to attract millions of foreign visitors, even discounting the number of arrivals who were not tourists per se. However, 2013 may prove tough. The disturbances earlier in the year, and...

Egypt has long served as one of the world’s oldest transport hubs. For millennia, its position, straddling major trade routes between Asia, Africa and Europe, has made the country a commercial and cultural crossroads, and since 1879 it has been home to the Suez Canal, through which 10% of the world’s total trade volume passes. Thanks largely to the canal, the transport sector has helped to buffer...

Long a regional heavyweight, Egypt’s industrial sector boasts a variety of segments that have helped make the country one of Africa’s biggest cement producers and its second-largest steel manufacturer. Still, industry, in particular light manufacturing, has had to grapple with the turmoil that followed the 2011 revolution, in the form of issues such as labour unrest and a deterioration in the...

The Egyptian insurance industry is characterised by considerable competition on price, low market penetration and the continued dominance of the state-backed Misr Insurance. Total insurance premiums, including inward reinsurance and direct written premiums, rose to $1.57bn in 2011/12, an 8.7% increase over the previous year. Total investment by insurance firms amounted to $5.5bn in 2011/12, up 9....

Since the start of the nation’s political transition in 2011, Egypt’s capital markets have faced a number of challenges. Nevertheless, 2012 saw Egypt’s exchange recover the ground it lost in 2011, growing by 51% year-on-year to become one of the fastest expanding in the world. Its path to recovery has been a volatile one, which has demonstrated the influence of political events on market...