President:
last held 5 October 1987 (next to be held October 1993); results - President
Hosni MUBARAK was reelected
Communists:
about 500 party members
Other political or pressure groups:
Islamic groups are illegal, but the largest one, the Muslim Brotherhood, is
tolerated by the government; trade unions and professional associations are
officially sanctioned
Member of:
ACC, ACCT (associate), AfDB, AFESD, AG (observer), AL, AMF, CAEU, CCC, EBRD,
ECA, ESCWA, FAO, G-15, G-19, G-24, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, IDA,
IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM
(observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OAPEC, OAS (observer), OAU, OIC, PCA, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNRWA, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation:
Ambassador El Sayed Abdel Raouf EL REEDY; Chancery at 2310 Decatur Place NW,
Washington, DC 20008; telephone (202) 232-5400; there are Egyptian
Consulates General in Chicago, Houston, New York, and San Francisco
US:
Ambassador Robert PELLETREAU; Embassy at Lazougi Street, Garden City, Cairo
(mailing address is APO AE 09839); telephone [20] (2) 355-7371; FAX [20] (2)
355-7375; there is a US Consulate General in Alexandria
Flag:
three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with the
national emblem (a shield superimposed on a golden eagle facing the hoist
side above a scroll bearing the name of the country in Arabic) centered in
the white band; similar to the flag of Yemen, which has a plain white band;
also similar to the flag of Syria that has two green stars and to the flag
of Iraq, which has three green stars (plus an Arabic inscription) in a
horizontal line centered in the white band
:Egypt Economy
Overview:
Egypt has one of the largest public sectors of all the Third World
economies, most industrial plants being owned by the government.
Overregulation holds back technical modernization and foreign investment.
Even so, the economy grew rapidly during the late 1970s and early 1980s, but
in 1986 the collapse of world oil prices and an increasingly heavy burden of
debt servicing led Egypt to begin negotiations with the IMF for
balance-of-payments support. As part of the 1987 agreement with the IMF, the
government agreed to institute a reform program to reduce 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; 4,763 km 1,435-meter standard gauge, 347 km 0.750-meter
gauge; 951 km double track; 25 km electrified
Highways:
51,925 km total; 17,900 km paved, 2,500 km gravel, 13,500 km improved earth,
18,025 km unimproved earth
Inland waterways:
3,500 km (including the Nile, Lake Nasser, Alexandria-Cairo Waterway, and
numerous smaller canals in the delta); Suez Canal, 193.5 km long (including
approaches), used by oceangoing vessels drawing up to 16.1 meters of water
Pipelines:
crude oil 1,171 km; petroleum products 596 km; natural gas 460 km
Ports:
Alexandria, Port Said, Suez, Bur Safajah, Damietta
Merchant marine:
150 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,019,182 GRT/1,499,880 DWT; includes
11 passenger, 5 short-sea passenger, 2 passenger-cargo, 86 cargo, 3
refrigerated cargo, 15 roll-on/roll-off, 12 petroleum tanker, 15 bulk, 1
container
Civil air:
50 major transport aircraft
Airports:
92 total, 82 usable; 66 with permanent-surface runways; 2 with runways over
3,659 m; 44 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 24 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications:
system is large but still inadequate for needs; principal centers are
Alexandria, Cairo, Al Mansurah, Ismailia, Suez and Tanta; intercity
connections by coaxial cable and microwave; extensive upgrading in progress;
600,000 telephones (est.); broadcast stations - 39 AM, 6 FM, 41 TV;
satellite earth stations - 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Indian Ocean
INTELSAT, 1 INMARSAT, 1 ARABSAT; 5 submarine coaxial cables; tropospheric
scatter to Sudan; radio relay to Libya, Israel, and Jordan
:Egypt Defense Forces
Branches:
Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Command
Manpower availability:
males 15-49, 13,911,006; 9,044,425 fit for military service; 563,321 reach
military age (20) annually
Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - $2.5 billion, 6.4% of GDP (1991)
:El Salvador Geography