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 four years. The addition of 1 million people every seven months to
Egypt's population exerts enormous pressure on the 5% of the total land area
available for agriculture.
GDP:
exchange rate conversion - $39.2 billion, per capita $720; real growth rate
2% (1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
17% (1991 est.)
Unemployment rate:
15% (1991 est.)
Budget:
revenues $9.4 billion; expenditures $15.9 billion, including capital
expenditures of $6 billion (FY90 est.)
Exports:
$4.5 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
commodities:
crude oil and petroleum products, cotton yarn, raw cotton, textiles, metal
products, chemicals
partners:
EC, Eastern Europe, US, Japan
Imports:
$11.7 billion (f.o.b., 1991 est.)
commodities:
machinery and equipment, foods, fertilizers, wood products, durable consumer
goods, capital goods
partners:
EC, US, Japan, Eastern Europe
External debt:
$38 billion (December 1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 7.3% (FY89 est.); accounts for 18% of GDP
Electricity:
13,500,000 kW capacity; 45,000 million kWh produced, 820 kWh per capita
(1991)
Industries:
textiles, food processing, tourism, chemicals, petroleum, construction,
cement, metals
Agriculture:
accounts for 20% of GDP and employs more than one-third of labor force;
dependent on irrigation water from the Nile; world's sixth-largest cotton
exporter; other crops produced include rice, corn, wheat, beans, fruit,
vegetables; not self-sufficient in food; livestock - cattle, water buffalo,
sheep, and goats; annual fish catch about 140,000 metric tons
Economic aid:
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $15.7 billion; Western (non-US)
countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $10.1 billion; OPEC
bilateral aid (1979-89), $2.9 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $2.4
billion

:Egypt Economy

Currency:
Egyptian pound (plural - pounds); 1 Egyptian pound (#E) = 100 piasters
Exchange rates:
Egyptian pounds (#E) per US$1 - 3.3310 (January 1992), 2.7072 (1990), 2.5171
(1989), 2.2233 (1988), 1.5183 (1987)
Fiscal year:
1 July - 30 June

:Egypt Communications

Railroads:
5,110 km total; 4,76