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Political
status
Egypt, which has been a republic since 1953, is an
Islamic state with a presidential regime.
The president is elected for a six year term of
office by referendum, having been proposed by the
People's Assembly, and he holds most of the
executive power.
He is assisted by a Prime Minister.
The present president is General Mohammed Hosni
Moubarak.
He has been in power since the 14th October
1981.
The Prime Minister is Mr Atef Ebeid since the 5th
October 1999.
Egypt
plays a major geo-political role in the Middle
East, due to the fact that it controls the Sinai
peninsula and the Suez Canal, which is the shortest
route between the Indian Ocean and the
Meditarranean, and is next to Israel.
The
official name of the country is Jumhuriyat
Misral-Arabiyah. The capital is Cairo.
The
country is divided into 26 administrative regions
:
Al Daqahliyah, Al Bahr al Ahmar, Al Buhayrah, Al
Fayyum, Al Gharbiyah, Al Iskandariyah, Al
Isma'iliyah,
Al Jizah, Al Minufiyah, Al Minya, Al Qahirah, Al
Qalyubiyah, Al Wadi al Jadid, Ash Sharqiyah, As
Suways, Aswan, Asyu't, Bani Suwayf, Bur Sa'id,
Dumyat, Janub Sina, Kafr ash Shaykh, Matruh, Qina,
Shamal Sina, Suhaj.
Internal
politics
The judiciary system is based on English civil law,
Islamic law and the Napoleonic code. Judiciary
decisions are revised by the Supreme Court and the
State Council, which check the validity of
administrative decisions.The voting age is 18,
voting is universal and obligatory.
Executive
power
The
Egyptian government is led by President Mohammed
Hosni Moubarak, sworn in office on 14th October
1981, 8 days after President Anwar Al Sadat was
assassinated.
The Cabinet is organized by the President.
Legislative
power
The People's Assembly (Majilis al Cha'b) is made up
of 454 members, 444 of whom are elected for five
years by general election, and 10 who are appointed
by the President for a five year term of
office.
30 seats are reserved for women. Half of the
representatives must be workers or farmers.
The Council (Majilis al-Shura) is made up of 264
members, two thirds of whom are elected and one
third appointed by the President.
Judiciary
power
Judiciary power is represented by the Supreme
Court.
Political
parties
National Democratic Party
New Wafd Party
Socialist Labour Party
National Progressive Party
Socialist Liberal Party
Democratic Unionist Party
Umma Party
Misr al Fatah Party
Democratic Nasserist Party
NB : A political party can only be
formed with the government's approval.
Historical
outline
A few historical dates :
1856 : Beginning of the building of the Suez
Canal
1948 : Conflicts with the new State of
Israel
1951 : Unilateral termination of the 1936
treaty with England.
Farouk is appointed to the thrones of Egypt and
Sudan
1952 : King Farouk is dethroned following a
revolution of young officers
1953 : General Neguib is appointed Head of
State by the 'free officers'
June 1953 : Egypt becomes an independent
Republic
1954 : Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser dissolves
the government and takes power
1956 : Nasser is elected President by
referendum.
The Suez Canal is nationalized.
1958-1961 : Egypt and Syria unite to form
the United Arab Republic
The Assouan Dam is built, financed by the USSR.
5-10th June 1967 : The Six Day War against
Israel.
1970 : Death of Nasser, President Sadat
takes power.
1971 : New attempt to unite Egypt, Libya and
Syria.
6-22nd Oct. 1973 : The Yom Kippour war
against Israel.
1974 : Infitah, Egypt sides with the western
powers
Nov. 1977 : President Sadat visits
Israel.
1978 : Start of peace negotiations with
Israel
6th Oct. 1981 : Assassination of President
Sadat, he is replaced by M. Moubarak
1982 : The Sinaï is given back to Egypt
by Israel.
6th Oct. 1987 : Re-election of President
Moubarak.
6th Dec. 1990 : Legislative elections won by
M. Moubarak.
1993 : Attacks against the authorities and
tourists.
26th June 1995 : An Islamist attack against
M. Moubarak.
Legislative elections, the President's party wins a
clear majority
Geographical
situation
Egypt is
situated on the north eastern edge of Africa
(Sinai), between Sudan (with 1273 kms of shared
borders), Israel (255 kms), Palestine (11 kms) and
Libya (1150 kms). The Red Sea is on the east and
the Mediterranean is on the north (2450 kms of
coastline).
The total surface area of the country is 1,001,440
square kms (1.8 times the size of
France).
The country is an
immense desert, cut down the middle by the Nile.
The Nile valley and delta, which are vastly
overcrowded (approx. 1200 inhabitants per square
km) only covers 5% of the territory.
The Nile measures 6671 kms and crosses 1500 kms of
Egyptian territory. It is navigable.
The Mediterranean coastline stretches for 1000 kms.
The Suez Canal links the longest river in the world
to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
Vegetation grows on the lands bordering the Nile
and around the dams of Assiout, Assouan, Esna and
Zifta. The Assouan dam produces 10 billion kWh a
year but is a source of problems : there is no
longer enough silt in lower Egypt, bilharzia is
spreading and so are rodents.
In the Arabian desert there are the Etbai Mts,
which climb to an altitude of over 1500 m and up to
2000 m (2187m for Sheyb, 2641m the Jabal Karina).
There are numerous oasis (called oueds).
The capital is Cairo, with 8,920,000 inhabitants
and other main towns are Alexandria, Port Said and
Suez.
Economy
Economic
statistics
|
(in
percentage)
|
1997
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1998
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1999
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2000
|
|
economic
growth
|
5.3
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5.6
|
5
|
5.2
|
|
inflation
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6.2
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3.8
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3.7
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4.1
|
|
unemployment
|
10
|
10.8
|
-
|
-
|
|
short term
interest rate
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9.84
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9.36
|
9.20
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-
|
|
public
balance/GDP
|
-0.9
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-1.0
|
-1.8
|
-0.9
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current
balance/GDP
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0.7
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-3.4
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-4.4
|
-4.8
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exports in
billions of dollars
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4.9
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5.1
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4.6
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4.9
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imports in
billions of dollars
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13.4
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15.2
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15.8
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16.5
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total
external debt in billions of
dollars
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28.8
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28.1
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30.4
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32.5
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|
of which
the short term debt =
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2.9
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6.1
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6.9
|
7.6
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charges on
the debt/exports (%)
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14.5
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10
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11.3
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12.3
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(source
OCDE)
General
information
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GNP
1999
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92.25
billion $
|
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GNP per
capita
|
1480
dollars
|
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Purchasing
power parity (PPP)
|
3500
dollars
|
|
GNP growth
1990-1997
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+2,8% per
capita per annum
|
|
Households
with PPP +$3000 per annum
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810,000 =
6%
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Households
with PPP + $15000 per annum
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1,760,000
= 13%
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Households
with PPP -$5000 per annum
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1,890,000
= 14%
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Aid
1998
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4.112
billion $
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Foreign
investment 1998
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1.076
billion $
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Growth of
investment 1990-97
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+2,5% per
annum
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Tourism
revenue 1999
|
4.2
billion $
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Country
risk
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Moderately
high
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The economy
took an important step forward in the 70s and 80s,
but in 1986 the drop in the world price of petrol
and the rise in the national debt obliged Egypt to
start negotiating for economic aid. Since 1991 the
government has made a lot of progress in its
administrative reforms (the liberalizing of the
exchange rates and interest rates) and its
programme of structural changes has contributed
towards improving conditions for economic growth.
Egypt's role as regional mediator puts it in a
privileged position, ensuring political and
financial support from the western
powers.
In 2001 the
economic growth has managed to stay at 5%, thanks
largely to the revival in the tourist industry. The
terrorist attacks have stopped and the tourist
revenue has increased (+50% in 1999), a necessary
income for the country.
The near-balance in public finances is one of the
most remarkable results of the structural changes
plan which has been managed with the help of the
IMF. If the debt ratios reflect a moderate increase
in the external debt, the financial situation
remains comfortable and the risk of non-payment
remains low. Unfortunantly the public sector still
predominates the economy and the weight of the
administration slows down reforms. (In the port of
Alexandria, the biggest port in the country, you
need no less than thirty signatures to get
merchandise through the customs.) Important
privatizations are expected in 2001, amongst which
the sale of 20% of the capital of Egypt
Telecom.
The country is
going through a cash shortage. To deal with it, the
president has asked the State to reimburse its
debts in order to inject 7.5 billion dollars into
the economy. Over one year the Egyptian reserves
have gone down by 25% and the public debt, which
stands at 4 billion dollars, equivalent to 40% of
the GDP, soaks up most of the cash. Egyptian banks
have hardly any funds left.
The country has
diversified sources of foreign currency : the
biggest one is money sent in by Egyptians abroad :
5 billion dollars, then comes tourism : 4.2
billion, thirdly the Suez Canal which brings in 1.9
billion and in fourth place petrol with 1.5
billion.
There is less and
less public investment, the private sector is
expected to deal with new infrastructural
investments in several sectors : energy, transport,
provision and treatment of water. The new Prime
Minister has announced tax reforms and the
continuation of privatizations, but the weight of
the administration discourages both private and
foreign investment. In spite of that, the private
sector participates to an equivalent of 70% of the
GDP.
The strong demographic growth is a source of worry
for President Moubarak : 1.2 million more people
every year add to the 62 million already
concentrated on the 5% strip of agricultural
territory around the Nile. Opposition movements
feed on the large social inequalities. With a GNP
per capita of 1480 dollars a year, Egypt is a
fairly poor country. The 3% yearly growth in the
labour force (600,00 people) makes it nearly
impossible to decrease the unemployment figure,
which is very high, at least 20%, although the
official figure is 10.8%.
The country imports
a lot of equipment and machines, foodstuff,
fertilizer, wooden articles and consumer goods. Its
main partners are the European Union (41.5%), the
United States (15.7%), Japan (5.4%), North Africa
and the Middle East (6.6%).
Agriculture
Only 4% of
the land is farmed, this is due to the fact that
the only land which is regularly watered is in the
Nile delta. 98% of the country's water is supplied
by the Assouan dam.
The country cannot
afford to import the foodstuffs necessary to feed
its constantly growing population.
Agriculture
- Fishing - Forestry
(millions
of tons, head, and m3 for wood)
|
Production
|
1996
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1997
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1998
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1999
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wheat
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5.735
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5.849
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6.093
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6.347
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wood
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2.723
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2.776
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2.829
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-
|
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sugar
cane
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13.958
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13.726
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14.353
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14.5
|
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cotton
|
0.346
|
0.342
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0.230
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-
|
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maize
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5.165
|
5.147
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5.430
|
5.500
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oranges
|
1.613
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1.522
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1.442
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1.525
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potatoes
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2.626
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1.803
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1.984
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1.900
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rice
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4.895
|
5.480
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4.450
|
5.816
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cattle
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3.107
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3.117
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3.217
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3.15
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sheep
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4.220
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4.260
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4.352
|
4.40
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pigs
|
0.027
|
0.028
|
0.029
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0.029
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fish
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0.396
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0.419
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-
|
-
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The agricultural sector employs 36% of the working
force and contributes 18% of the GNP. 18,000
hectares of new land are created every year, but
the urban growth covers 13,000 hectares a year. In
1962, to win over the support of the small-scale
farmers and to weaken the landed property owners,
Nasser imposed a low rental price on agricultural
lands and gave farmers' children a right of
possession which was nearly hereditary. This law
was revised in 1997, since then rents have tripled
and families occupying the land can be expelled
with only a year's notice : 87 people have died,
nearly 800 have been arrested and there are now
420,000 landless peasants. At present the
government doesn't have any available land to
allocate to them - it is counting on the Tochka
canal project (200 kms) to make 25% of the country
suitable for cultivation. It will mean the total
creation of a second delta in the southern part of
the country. Egypt will then have the most power
pump in the world : it will pump 25 million cubic
meters of water from Lake Nasser to irrigate
225,000 hectares.
The urgent
environmental questions are :
- the loss of arable land due to both urbanization
and the advancing desert
- the large amount of salt in the soil below the
Assouan dam
- the water pollution due to pesticides and
industrial waste
- the lack of drinking water in the areas away from
the Nile.
Industry
Natural
resources are petrol, natural gas, iron ore,
phosphates, manganese, lime, gypsum, talc,
asbestos, lead and zinc. The only minerals
exploited are phosphates and iron.
Industry contributes 25.9% of the GDP and mining
6.4%
The Nile delta
contains important natural gas reserves (the
government expects to make from 1.5 to 3 billion
dollars a year from them). There is a project being
studied to build a pipeline along the coast to
Turkey. The crossing of Israelian territory is
presently under discussion.
The first Egyptian natural liquid gas processing
factory could be set up in 2004 with English
financing.
On the other hand
the petrol industry seems to be declining :
production has gone down and the last interesting
discovery was 20 years ago. Petrol still represents
40% of the export revenue but the projects only
concern off-shore drilling.
The main industries are textiles, foodstuffs,
tourism, chemical products, building, cement and
metals.
The manufacturing industry, which is quite
diversified, suffers from a lack of infrastructures
for exportation, particularly agricultural products
with a high added value. Cairo airport, in the hope
of reducing losses has decided to install a cold
room for storage. Also, a container terminal is
being built near Port Said, which will have a
capacity of 700,000 units a year. At the moment
Egypt only exports 20% of its manufactured goods
but is looking for new outlets. At present 44% of
its exports go to the European Union but bilateral
agreements have been signed with Morocco, Tunisia
and Jordan and the main objective is to create an
Arabian Common Market in 2008.
The developement of
transportation means has also been encouraged : the
second part of the Cairo underground has just been
completed (2 million people use it every day), a
new 38 km highway connects the town centre to the
new town called the '6th October' which has been
installed in the middle of the desert.
Egypt has an important energy production, it has a
surplus of over 30 million TOE per year. However
the petrol crisis considerably affected its
exports. Industry is still 70% state-owned. The
electricity production was 57.656 billion kwh in
1997, with a per capita consumption of 611 kwh.
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