아프리카ㆍ중동

1. Recent Economic Developments

Egypt has a territory of 1,001,450 square kilometres and a population of some 81.5 million. Located in the north-eastern corner of Africa, it is bordered by the Libya to the west, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the north-east, and Sudan to the south. Egypt has a coastline of about 2,450 kilometres on the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Per capita income was about US$ 682 in 1990 compared with US$ 2699 in 2010 (Table I).
 

GDP growth, which ranged between 4% and 6% during the second half of the 1990s, declined steadily to 2.3% in 2002. Since then, a recovery has taken place, driven mainly by public consumption and net external demand (despite a decline in aggregate investment), with a growth rate of 7.1% in 2008 and declined to 5.2% in 2010. Nevertheless, with annual population growth at about 1.75%, GDP growth rates are still rather low to have a significant impact on poverty. Unemployment has persisted at a relatively high level of 9.4% in 2009.

The share of agriculture in GDP has been declining for nearly three decades, although the sector is still important for employment and generates about 10% of GDP earnings. Production of different industries accounts about 29.0% of GDP. The services sector constitutes the backbone of the Egyptian economy in terms of GDP share, employment, and exports (61.0%) in 2010.

In order to avert and contain further pressures on the local currency, Egypt shifted to a flexible exchange-rate regime in 2001 after a series of forced devaluations. As a result, Egypt saw its exports increase and was able to reduce domestic interest rates, thereby stimulating investment. The increase in both exports and investment appear to have contributed positively to the growth rate of real GDP, with an increase during the period 2002-2010. Other contributing factors to the high real GDP growth rates have been the entry into force of the bilateral trade agreement between Egypt and the European Union in 2004, and the subsequent increase in bilateral trade; and workers’ remittances from Egyptian labour in the GCC countries.

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