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 1991-93 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. Egypt probably will continue making uneven progress in implementing the successor programs with the IMF and World Bank it signed onto in late 1993. In 1992-93 tourism 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 - purchasing power equivalent - $139 billion (1993 est.) National product real growth rate: 0.3% (1993 est.) National product per capita: $2,400 (1993 est.) Inflation rate (consumer prices): 11% (1993 est.) Unemployment rate: 20% (1993 est.) Budget: revenues: $16.8 billion expenditures: $19.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $3.4 billion (FY94 est.) Exports: $3.5 billion (f.o.b., FY93 est.) commodities: crude oil and petroleum products, cotton yarn, raw cotton, textiles, metal products, chemicals partners: EC, Eastern Europe, US, Japan Imports: $10.5 billion (c.i.f., FY93 est.) commodities: machinery and equipment, foods, fertilizers, wood products, durable consumer goods, capital goods partners: EC, US, Japan, Eastern Europe External debt: $32 billion (March 1993 est.) Industrial production: growth rate -0.4% (FY92 est.); accounts for 18% of GDP Electricity: capacity: 14,175,000 kW production: 47 billion kWh consumption per capita: 830 kWh (1992) 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 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 from Lebanon and Syria Economic aid: recipient: 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 - 3.369 (November 1993), 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:
total:
45,500 km
paved:
18,300 km
unpaved:
gravel 12,503 km; earth 14,697 km
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:
171 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,08,208 GRT/1,617,890 DWT,
bulk 16, cargo 88, container 1, oil tanker 14, passenger 27,
refrigerated cargo 3, roll-on/roll-off cargo 15, short-sea passenger 7
Airports:
total:
92
usable:
82
with permanent-surface runways:
66
with runways over 3,659 m:
2
with runways 2,440-3,659 m:
45
with runways 1,220-2,439 m:
23
Telecommunications:
large system by Third World standards but inadequate for present
requirements and undergoing extensive upgrading; 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 15,335,889; fit for military service 9,961,128; reach
military age (20) annually 625,748 (1994 est.)
Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - $2.05 billion, 6% of GDP (FY92/93)
@El Salvador, Geography
Location:
Middle America, bordering the North Pacific Ocean between Guatemala
and Honduras
Map references:
Central America and the Caribbean, North America, Standard Time Zones
of the World
Area:
total area:
21,040 sq km
land area:
20,720 sq km
comparative area:
slightly smaller than Massachusetts
Land boundaries:
total 545 km, Guatemala 203 km, Honduras 342 km
Coastline:
307 km
Maritime claims:
territorial sea:
200 nm; overflight and navigation permitted beyond 12 nm
International disputes:
land boundary dispute with Honduras mostly resolved by 11 September
1992 International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision; ICJ referred the
maritime boundary in the Golfo de Fonseca to an earlier agreement in
this century and advised that some tripartite resolution among El
Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua likely would be required
Climate:
tropical; rainy season (May to October); dry season (November to
April)
Terrain:
mostly mountains with narrow coastal belt and central plateau
Natural resources:
hydropower, geothermal power, petroleum
Land use:
arable land:
27%
permanent crops:
8%
meadows and pastures:
29%
forest and woodland:
6%
other:
30%
Irrigated land:
1,200 sq km (1989)
Environment:
current issues:
deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution; contamination of soils
from disposal of toxic wastes
natural hazards:
known as the Land of Volcanoes, subject to frequent and sometimes very
destructive earthquakes and volcanic activity
international agreements:
party to - Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban,
Ozone Layer Protection; signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Law of the Sea
Note:
smallest Central American country and only one without a coastline on
Caribbean Sea
@El Salvador, People
Population:
5,752,511 (July 1994 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.04% (1994 est.)
Birth rate:
32.81 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Death rate:
6.36 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Net migration rate:
-6.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
40.9 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
66.99 years
male:
64.41 years
female:
69.71 years (1994 est.)
Total fertility rate:
3.78 children born/woman (1994 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Salvadoran(s)
adjective:
Salvadoran
Ethnic divisions:
mestizo 94%, Indian 5%, white 1%
Religions:
Roman Catholic 75%
note:
Roman Catholic about 75%; there is extensive activity by Protestant
groups throughout the country; by the end of 1992, there were an
estimated 1 million Protestant evangelicals in El Salvador
Languages:
Spanish, Nahua (among some Indians)
Literacy:
age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total population:
73%
male:
76%
female:
70%
Labor force:
1.7 million (1982 est.)
by occupation:
agriculture 40%, commerce 16%, manufacturing 15%, government 13%,
financial services 9%, transportation 6%, other 1%
note:
shortage of skilled labor and a large pool of unskilled labor, but
manpower training programs improving situation (1984 est.)
@El Salvador, Government