The government ended fuel subsidies in July. Any interruption to the Egypt’s agricultural food supply has the potential to be extremely destabilizing. This book represents a look beyond theories and analogies to examine the challenges of strategy implementation. Yet restrictions on freedom of religion remain largely in place. Global geopolitical tensions, particularly in the Middle East, along with the domestic political situation, play a major role in discouraging investment, and make it difficult to predict significant developments in investment flows. … close. Egypt's Economic Update — October 2019. The rights group Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) documented the closure by the authorities of 14 churches. Over 90 percent of over 3,700 churches and buildings still work without a permit and lack legal protection. Health. In other words, the returns to education seem small since respondents with a general primary education and those with a university degree report similar levels of skill required for their jobs. In November, President al-Sisi ordered the law revised but the government did not announce a timeline for such revision. Egyptian young adults make widespread use of technology with almost 90 percent using mobile phones and almost fifty percent using computers and the internet.35 While some of these advances in individual technological capability have been fueled by advances in education within Egypt, many of the gains in ability to access technology are related to personal efforts at training and expertise development. Several UN experts, including the high commissioner for human rights and UN special procedure mandate holders, have on several occasions individually or collectively condemned abuses in Egypt, including the systematic targeting of human rights defenders, verdicts against protesters, and death sentences following unfair trials. Those arrested included Hazem Abd al-Azim, a political activist; rights defender, Wael Abbas; Shady al-Ghazaly Harb, a surgeon; Haitham Mohamadeen, a lawyer; Amal Fathy, an activist; and Shady Abu Zaid, a satirist. Factbook > Countries > Egypt > Geography. Politics | January 22nd 2021 Egypt restores full diplomatic ties with Qatar. Egypt’s 2014 Demographic and Health Survey recorded a globally unprecedented 17 percent increase in the country’s total fertility rate since 2008. Egypt’s internal political situation does not need much effort to demonstrate instability as an important factor in dismissing and discouraging foreign investment. 9 | Page Egypt – Market Entry handbook 1 The Food and Beverage Market Entry Handbook: Egypt This Handbook is intended to act as a reference for those agri-food producers planning for, or in the process of entering, the Egyptian market. Hepatitis C is typically transmitted through contact with contaminated blood, especially through shared needles. Email; Print; Tweet; Share; Share Real GDP growth reached 5.6% in FY19, up from 5.3% in FY18. Disruptions to the Nile flow associated with the dam could increase scarcity at a time when Egypt is witnessing significant population growth. A North Sinai mosque was attacked in November 2017 during Friday prayers. Egypt will continue to access bilateral and multilateral financing to support ambitious transport infrastructure plans. community of supporters in Every three months, the authorities extended the state of emergency, in force since April 2017, thereby circumventing the constitutional six-month limit. In July, the Trump administration announced that it would reinstate Foreign Military Financing funds to Egypt after withholding some funds in August 2017 pending improving democracy and human rights benchmarks, which were not published. Lack of access to credit means that youth, who have limited credit histories and collateral, are also disadvantaged if they want to start small businesses.30, While countries in the Middle East and North Africa have tried to reduce levels of youth unemployment, most countries have prioritized security concerns over the problems of young people.31 Researchers point to a variety of factors contributing to labor market pressures, including weak educational systems; lack of labor market planning resources; and a mismatch of expectations between educated job seekers and the prestige of available jobs.32 Only 20 percent of Egyptians think that the country’s economic situation is good, and fewer than 30 percent of Egyptians believe that the country’s children will be better off than their parents.33, Because Egyptians lack optimism about the future, many young people have sought to emigrate to Europe, often undertaking dangerous trips by boat across the Mediterranean. In May 2018, Egyptian police and NSA forces carried out another wave of arrests of critics of President al-Sisi in dawn raids. On August 18, President al-Sisi approved a new law regulating the internet called the Anti-Cyber and Information Technology Crimes Law (Cybercrime Law). There is also a sense that the regime lacks the financial resources and political will to make the necessary updates to Cairo’s roads, rails, housing stock, and water systems. Copy link . For the 75 percent of the sample not currently in school, respondents were asked if they were “employed during the past seven days.” For these non-students, about 40 percent said that they worked in the last seven days while 60 percent said that they did not. Egypt Economic Outlook. As Egypt’s population has increased, growth has put a strain on infrastructure. FAYOUM, Egypt (Reuters) - Ahmed Abd-Rabo used to get all the water he needed to feed his crops 50 km (30 miles) from Egypt’s River Nile. Photo: AFP File Photo Cairo has a waste problem that is too big for its public funding agencies and the Zabbaleen waste pickers to solve by themselves. Poverty in Egypt continues to be on the rise with 27 percent of the population living under the poverty line. To Read Text in PDF Format Click here. Recent reports by the government suggest that around 4,700 newborns are added to the population every week, and future projections say that the population will grow from its current total of 92 million to 110 million by the year 2025.The rapid population increase multiplies the stress on Egypt’s water supply due to more wat… The restrictions caused a severe shortage of food, cooking gas, and other essential commercial goods in March and April. advancing ideas defining a free BUE is already leading many projects in renewable energy with funding from Egypt, the European Union and the British Council. Egypt’s population is mushrooming at an alarming rate and has increased by 41 percent since the early 1990s. in Egypt 2016 into a database using DevInfo1, yielding a comprehensive and inter-active web-based database covering all the indicators for child wellbeing in Egypt. Authorities have placed hundreds of people and entities on the country’s terrorism list and seized their assets for alleged terrorism links without any hearing or proper due process. Authorities announced in late 2017 that they were investigating Human Rights Watch claims of police and NSA forces’ use of torture, but at time of writing, these investigations had not led to the prosecution of any alleged perpetrators. The Stop Enforced Disappearance campaign has documented 1,530 cases from July 2013 to August 2018. In February, the army announced a new campaign against militants of the ISIS-affiliated group known as Sinai Province. In December of 2018, al-Sisi went on a 20-minute televised rant, criticizing Egyptians for overeating and not walking enough.42. Egypt Environment - current issues. But without the right investments in youth health and education, as well as opportunities for suitable employment, Egypt’s economic future will be limited. There is also a sense that the regime lacks the financial resources and political will to make the necessary updates to Cairo’s roads, rails, housing stock, and water systems. In addition, about 3.6 million Egyptian children are obese, accounting for 10 percent of the country’s children. Economic activity appears to have improved somewhat in recent months, following a 1.7% year-on-year contraction in Q2 (Q1: +5.0% yoy). Political instability may have led to some backsliding, however, on issues related to population control. The security forces have committed widespread abuses during the protracted campaign including enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial executions, and military trials of civilians, as well as home demolitions. In fact, thousands of Egyptians have expatriated for political reasons, fearful of court convictions, lawsuits, attacks in the media, and the threat of physical attack.13 And the Egyptians who have left represent all walks of political life, including leftists and liberals as well as Islamists.14 The Egyptian legislature has never been a particularly effective counterweight to the executive; this is even more so the case today than in the past. These courts do not guarantee a fair trial and their decisions are not subject to appeal. Until the 2000s, Egypt witnessed declines in family size associated with increased access to family planning resources. Data for the first nine months of FY19 show that this pickup is driven by net exports, as goods and services exports inched up in tandem with a contraction of oil imports (supported by the increase in natural gas production). A great deal of attention has focused on the role social media played in the 2011 uprisings, from shaping political debates to mobilizing events on the ground to spreading democratic ideas.36 Analysts have suggested that the 2011 uprisings may have had a subsequent feedback effect on technological innovation and the entrepreneurial start-up scene in Egypt.37 In recent years, Egyptian companies have innovated successfully in artificial intelligence (AI). Both obesity-related chronic disease as well as lack of economic opportunity contribute to mental health disorders that could affect Egypt’s social and political stability. According to some analysts, Egypt is on track to reach a threshold of “absolute water scarcity” by 2030.50 Climate changes, particularly higher temperatures, are expected to shorten growing seasons and reduce agricultural yields in Egypt.51 Large amounts of water are also lost through evaporation every year, something that climate change will make worse.52 This is not to mention pollution damage to the Nile, which is widespread.53, Climate change is also associated with rising sea levels that have the potential to damage Egypt’s ecological situation. Egypt witnessed a spike in births after the 2011 uprisings. Another series of arrests launched in August included former ambassador Ma’soum Marzouk, who called for a public referendum on whether al-Sisi should resign. In late January and February, security forces carried out a series of arbitrary arrests in an escalating crackdown against al-Sisi’s peaceful political opponents ahead of the presidential vote. Their team of dedicated experts supports you in case of queries or problems. An official statistical survey concluded that 32.5% of Egy… The SYPE, which examines issues from educational disparities to employment patterns to gender attitudes, is one of the largest surveys of young people in the Middle East and North Africa. Egypt’s also passed the country’s first comprehensive law for health insurance for citizens in January and legalized the situation of some scores of churches that the government had previously not approved for building. Given the stigma associated with blue collar jobs for the college educated, this is perhaps unsurprising. About sharing. On September 29, a criminal court sentenced Fathy to two years’ imprisonment for “publishing false news,” as well as a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (US$560) for making “public insults.” She continues to face charges in a separate case on trumped-up allegations of belonging to a terrorist organization. Telecommunications and electricity are still sometimes shut for days or weeks in some areas. In September 2018 alone, a Cairo Criminal Court handed down 75 death sentences, in a mass trial, stemming from the Raba’ dispersal events in August 2013. There has been some governmental attempts to better the system of waste management since the 1960s but those have not proven sufficient until now. Unlike other countries in the region, Egypt has taken no steps to ban forced anal examinations of people accused of homosexual conduct. Respondents who were not working were asked why they were unemployed. According to Hafez Abu Seada, a member of the National Council for Human Rights, the Ministry of Interior acknowledged that 500 out of 700 people whose families reported their disappearance since 2015 remain in detention. Lisa Blaydes is a professor of political science at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. And although al-Sisi has brought forms of public stability to the country, he does not garner high levels of loyalty among Egyptians, many of whom disapprove of his repressive tactics.8 From a rhetorical perspective, al-Sisi engages in continual fearmongering, threatening that the chaos in regional neighbors like Libya, Syria, and Yemen could come to Egypt.9, Egyptians enjoy fewer personal freedoms today than compared to the Mubarak period. Fewer than 10 percent of respondents said that they use a computer for work. Although concerns remain, Egypt hopes that restoring ties fully will facilitate Qatari investment. Join the Hoover Institution’s However in the view of trade unionists and labor activists, the law "was only issued to win favor with the International Labor Organization,” and it kept in place several restrictions on the right to organize. Private investment is picking up and net exports are improving. Approximately 61 percent of the population is under the age of 30, and 40 percent is between the ages of 10 and 29.19 While it is easy to imagine that the status quo demographic conditions are unsustainable, it is impossible to predict with any accuracy the conditions under which these structural conditions pass a threshold from stability to instability. Economy | January 18th 2021 Siemens signs up as partner for Egyptian rail project. Egyptians, both rich and poor, enjoy sweet beverages including sugared tea and soft drinks. Shares. Millions of Egyptians contracted Hepatitis C when the Egyptian government undertook a campaign to treat schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease associated with Nile water snails. Thousands of residents in the east rely on rain water. The Zohr gas field is the largest ever natural gas find in the Mediterranean, doubling Egypt’s reserves.60 And although Egypt’s gas exports are still a trickle, al-Sisi has publicly stated that his dream is make Egypt a regional hub for energy in the future.61 Egypt’s location close to major European markets is thought to be particularly favorable given Europe’s increasing gas use.62 Whether Egypt will be able to productively invest revenue from the natural gas windfall is uncertain. Three years after the abduction, torture, and murder of the Italian PhD student, Giulio Regeni, in Cairo, prosecutors failed to charge anyone despite the government saying security was monitoring Regeni and investigated his activities before his death. A picture taken on July 26, 2018 shows Egyptian policemen stand guarding a street in the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Egypt Transnational Issues 2020 should be addressed to the CIA … The government has failed to adequately protect women and girls from sexual and gender-based violence, and, in some cases, even punished them for speaking out on this issue. Egypt ranked sixth in highest numbers of executions and third in the largest number of death sentences in the world in 2017. In particular, demographic changes and economic trends continue to evolve in ways that have the potential to increase unrest. A successful path forward on this issue will require continued cooperation with international pharmaceutical companies as well as increased screening and outreach. The last ten years have seen forms of political disruption within Egypt that were virtually unimaginable a decade ago—from the 2011 protest uprisings; the 2012 election of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi to the Egyptian presidency; the 2013 coup d’état which unseated Morsi; and the 2014 formal assumption of power by current Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt has witnessed a period of staggering political change. The opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University. Become engaged in a community that shares an interest in the mission of the Hoover Institution to advance policy ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity, while securing and safeguarding peace for America and all mankind. More. The Egyptian government has been less successful at increasing job opportunities for young people or making progress on the crisis of obesity, a health issue that is linked to both diabetes and hypertension prevalence. There are 700,000 new entrants into the labor force each year on top of large numbers of already unemployed youth.28 According to CAPMAS, only about 50 percent of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 are employed, and almost 40 percent of unemployed young adults hold university degrees.29. Building on Samuel Huntington’s concept of a “veto” coup, scholars have argued the overthrow of Egypt’s first (and only) democratically-elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in June of 2013 constituted a “popular-participatory veto coup.”1 Concerned about Morsi’s attempts to usurp political power and damage the independence of the judiciary, liberal activists called for popular demonstrations against the president.2 Ordinary Egyptians, emboldened by the efficacy that they felt in the wake of the 2011 protest uprisings, went back to the streets to express their disapproval of the perceived power grab by Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. society. Almost 60 percent said that there was no work available at all for them. Nowhere are these investments a bigger challenge than in the educational domain. Fertility rates began increasing in the years leading up to 2011, however, as a result of a relaxation of family planning policies.22 Political instability may have also influenced implementation of population-related policies. In the last five years, the Egyptian government has implemented a relatively robust response to the Hepatitis C epidemic. Many of those were convicted in flawed trials. Thousands of Egyptian bloggers, journalists and political activists have been jailed; websites have been banned and the media is under strict control. 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