Economy - overview:
Egypt improved its macroeconomic performance throughout most of the last decade by following IMF advice on fiscal, monetary, and structural reform policies. As a result, Egypt managed to tame inflation, slash budget deficits, and attract more foreign investment. In the past four years, however, the pace of reform has slackened, and excessive spending on national infrastructure projects has widened budget deficits again. Lower foreign exchange earnings since 1998 resulted in pressure on the Egyptian pound and periodic dollar shortages. Monetary pressures have increased since 11 September 2001 because of declines in tourism and Suez Canal tolls, and Egypt has devalued the pound several times in the past year. The development of a gas export market is a major bright spot for future growth prospects. In the short term, regional tensions will continue to affect tourism and hold back prospects for economic expansion.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $268 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
1.7% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $3,900 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 17%
industry: 34%
services: 49% (2001)
Population below poverty line:
22.9% (FY95 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 4.4%
highest 10%: 25% (1995)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
28.9 (1995)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
4.3% (2002)
Labor force:
20.6 million (2001 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 29%, industry 22%, services 49% (2000 est.)
Unemployment rate:
12% (2001 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $21.5 billion
expenditures: $26.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $5.9 billion (2001)
Industries:
textiles, food processing, tourism, chemicals, hydrocarbons, construction, cement, metals
Industrial production growth rate:
2.2% (2002 est.)
Electricity - production:
75.23 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 81%
hydro: 19%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
69.96 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
816,900 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
562,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves:
3.308 billion bbl (January 2002 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
1.264 trillion cu m (January 2002 est.)
Agriculture - products:
cotton, rice, corn, wheat, beans, fruits, vegetables; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats
Exports:
$7 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
crude oil and petroleum products, cotton, textiles, metal products, chemicals
Exports - partners:
US 20.1%, Italy 13.5%, UK 9.2%, France 4.0% (2002)
Imports:
$15.2 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, wood products, fuels
Imports - partners:
US 17.8%, Germany 7.9%, Italy 6.5%, France 6.2% (2002)
Debt - external:
$30.5 billion (2002 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
ODA, $2.25 billion (1999)
Currency:
Egyptian pound (EGP)
Currency code:
EGP
Exchange rates:
Egyptian pounds per US dollar - 4.4997 (2002), 3.973 (2001), 3.4721 (2000), 3.3953 (1999), 3.388 (1998)
Fiscal year:
1 July - 30 June
NOTE: The information regarding Egypt on this page is re-published from the 2003 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea Geography 2003 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Egypt Economy 2003 should be addressed to the CIA.
