Africa Economy

One big factor that contributed to the 2011 revolution in Egypt was the increasing sense of alienation and disempowerment felt by the country’s poor, who in Egypt tend to be concentrated in rural districts away from the main urban centres of Cairo and Alexandria. As a result, in recent years there has been a growing recognition of the role that...

Like many emerging markets, Egypt’s economic structure is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Estimates vary, but sources such as the OECD and Egypt’s General Authority for Investment (GAFI) assert that they account for between 80% and 90% of total businesses, and between 75% and 80% of total employment in the country.

Home to one of the oldest civilisations in the world, spanning millennia, Egypt remains the most populous and one of the most influential countries in the Arab world. The wealth of the Nile and its fertile banks and delta, together with Egypt’s location at the confluence of Africa, Asia and Europe, have made the country a valuable prize for...

The national monetary policy has undergone a transformative process of evolution over the past decade, and has in recent years been compelled to accommodate both exogenous and domestic shocks of considerable scale. Prior to 2003, the monetary policy decisions of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) were carried out with two straightforward policy goals...

Over the past two years, a state of transition has become a more or less permanent feature of Egypt’s political scene. After 18 months, the 2011 uprising that led to the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak resulted in the election of a new president, Mohammed Morsi of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), and a new constitution for the country...