Member of: ABEDA, ACC, AFESD, AL, AMF, CAEU, CCC, ESCWA, FAO, G-19,
G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF,
IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, NAM, OAPEC, OIC,
OPEC, PCA, UN, UNAMIR, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNOMIL, UNPROFOR, UPU,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in US: chief of mission: Ambassador Ahmed Maher El SAYED chancery: 3521 International Court NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 895-5400 FAX: [1] (202) 244-4319, 5131 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, New York, and San Francisco
US diplomatic representation: chief of mission: Ambassador Edward S. WALKER, Jr. embassy: (North Gate) 8, Kamel El-Din Salah Street, Garden City, Cairo
mailing address: APO AE 09839-4900 telephone: [20] (2) 3557371 FAX: [20] (2) 3573200
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: Half of Egypt's GDP originates in the public sector, 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. Tourism has plunged since 1992 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 1.2 million people a year to the already huge population of 62 million exerts enormous pressure on the 5% of the land area available for agriculture along the Nile.
National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $151.5 billion (1994 est.)
National product real growth rate: 1.5% (1994 est.)
National product per capita: $2,490 (1994 est.)