*Egypt, Government

People's Assembly:
last held 29 November 1990 (next to be held November 1995); results - NDP
78.4%, NPUG 1.4%, independents 18.7%; seats - (437 total, 444 elected) NDP
348, NPUG 6, independents 83; note - most opposition parties boycotted
President:
last held 5 October 1987 (next to be held October 1993); results - President
Hosni MUBARAK was reelected
Executive branch:
president, prime minister, Cabinet
Legislative branch:
unicameral People's Assembly (Majlis al-Cha'b); note - there is an Advisory
Council (Majlis al-Shura) that functions in a consultative role
Judicial branch:
Supreme Constitutional Court
Leaders:
Chief of State:
President Mohammed Hosni MUBARAK (was made acting President on 6 October
1981 upon the assassination of President SADAT and sworn in as president on
14 October 1981)
Head of Government:
Prime Minister Atef Mohammed Najib SEDKY (since 12 November 1986)
Member of:
ABEDA, 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, ISO, ITU, LORCS, MINURSO, NAM, OAPEC, OAS (observer), OAU, OIC, PCA,
UN, UNAVEM II, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOMOZ, UNOSOM, UNPROFOR, UPU, UNRWA,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in US:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Ahmed MAHER El Sayed
chancery:
2310 Decatur Place NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone:
(202) 232-5400
consulates general:
Chicago, Houston, New York, and San Francisco
US diplomatic representation:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Robert PELLETREAU
embassy:
Lazougi Street, Garden City, Cairo
mailing address:
APO AE 09839 telephone:
[20] (2) 355-7371
FAX:
[20] (2) 355-7375
consulate general:
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. Egypt's first IMF standby arrangement concluded
in mid-1987 was suspended in early 1988 because of the government's failure
to adopt promised reforms. Egypt signed a follow-on program with the IMF and
also negotiated a structural adjustment loan with the World Bank in 1991. In
1991-92 the government made solid progress on administrative reforms such as
liberalizing exchange and interest rates but resisted implementing major
structural reforms like streamlining the public sector. As a result, the
economy has not gained momentum and unemployment has become a growing
problem. In 1992-93 tourism has plunged 20% or so because of sporadic
attacks by Islamic extremists on tourist groups. President MUBARAK has cited
population growth as the main cause of the country's economic troubles. The
addition of about 1.4 million people a year to the already huge population
of 60 million exerts enormous pressure on the 5% of the land area available
for agriculture.
National product:
GDP - exchange rate conversion - $41.2 billion (1992 est.)
National product real growth rate:
2.1% (1992 est.)
National product per capita:
$730 (1992 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
21% (1992 est.)
Unemployment rate:
20% (1992 est.)
Budget:
revenues $12.6 billion; expenditures $15.2 billion, including capital
expenditures of $4 billion (FY92 est.)
Exports:
$3.6 billion (f.o.b., FY92 est.)
commodities: crude oil and petroleum products, cotton yarn, raw cotton, textiles, metal
products, chemicals
partners:
EC, Eastern Europe, US, Japan
Imports:
$10.0 billion (c.i.f., FY92 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:
14,175,000 kW capacity; 47,000 million kWh produced, 830 kWh per capita
(1992)
Industries:
textiles, food processing, tourism, chemicals, petroleum, construction,
cement, metals

*Egypt, Economy

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 for a rapidly expanding population;
livestock - cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats; annual fish catch about
140,000 metric tons
Illicit drugs:
a transit point for Southwest Asian and Southeast Asian heroin and opium
moving to Europe and the US; popular transit stop for Nigerian couriers;
large domestic consumption of hashish and heroin from Lebanon and Syria
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
Currency:
1 Egyptian pound (#E) = 100 piasters
Exchange rates:
Egyptian pounds (#E) per US$1 - 3.345 (November 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:
168 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,097,707 GRT/1,592,885 DWT; includes
25 passenger, 6 short-sea passenger, 2 passenger-cargo, 88 cargo, 3
refrigerated cargo, 14 roll-on/roll-off, 13 oil tanker, 16 bulk, 1 container
Airports:
total:
92
usable:
82
with permanent-surface runways:
66
with runways over 3,659 m:
2
with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
44
with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
24
Telecommunications:
large system by Third World standards but inadequate for present
requirements and undergoing extensive upgrading; about 600,000 telephones
(est.) - 11 telephones per 1,000 persons; principal centers at Alexandria,
Cairo, Al Mansurah, Ismailia Suez, and Tanta are connected by coaxial cable
and microwave radio relay; international traffic is carried by satellite -
one earth station for each of Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT, Indian Ocean
INTELSAT, ARABSAT and INMARSAT; by 5 coaxial submarine cables, microwave
troposcatter (to Sudan), and microwave radio relay (to Libya, Israel, and
Jordan); broadcast stations - 39 AM, 6 FM, and 41 TV

*Egypt, Defense Forces

Branches:
Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Command
Manpower availability:
males age 15-49 14,513,752; fit for military service 9,434,020; reach
military age (20) annually 581,858 (1993 est.)
Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - $2.05 billion, 5% of GDP (FY92/93)