Overview: The economy grew rapidly during the late 1970s and early 1980s, but in 1986 the collapse of world oil prices and an increasingly heavy burden of debt servicing led Egypt to conduct negotiations with the IMF for balance-of-payments support. As part of the agreement with the IMF, the government agreed to institute a long-term reform program to reduce inflation, promote economic growth, and improve its external position. The reforms have been slow in coming, however, and the economy has been largely stagnant for the past three years. Real GDP was up only 0.5% in FY87 after increasing only marginally during 1985-1986. Slow growth is an especially serious problem for a country with a high population growth rate of 2.6% annually. With 1 million people being added every eight months to Egypt's population, urban growth exerts enormous pressure on the 5% of the land available for agriculture.

GNP: $25.6 billion, per capita $490; real growth rate 0.5% (1987)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 25% (1988)

Unemployment rate: 17% (mid-1988)

Budget: revenues $15 billion; expenditures $23 billion, including capital expenditures of $5.8 billion (FY88)

Exports: $4.4 billion (f.o.b., 1987); @m5commodities--raw cotton, crude and refined petroleum, cotton yarn, textiles; @m5partners--US, EC, Japan, Eastern Europe

Imports: $11.9 billion (c.i.f., 1987); @m5commodities--foods, machinery and equipment, fertilizers, wood products, durable consumer goods, capital goods; @m5partners--US, EC, Japan, Eastern Europe

External debt: $40.4 billion (December 1988)

Industrial production: growth rate 2.2% (1987)

Electricity: 9,673,000 kW capacity; 42,367 million kWh produced, 790 kWh per capita (1988)

Industries: textiles, food processing, tourism, chemicals, petroleum, construction, cement, metals

Agriculture: fodder, maize, wheat, cotton, rice, horsebeans, barley, citrus fruit; not self-sufficient in food

Aid: NA

Currency: Egyptian pound (plural--pounds); 1 Egyptian pound (LE) = 100 piasters

Exchange rates: Egyptian pounds (LE) per US$1--2.3557 (January 1989), 2.2129 (1988), 1.5015 (1987), 1.3503 (1986), 1.3009 (1985)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June

NOTE: The information regarding Egypt on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Egypt Economy 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Egypt Economy 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.