Egypt: Era of Dawn or Drain?

Mystic Egypt: The legends of pyramids is not the only story of Egypt, add to that riches of Cairo, few
tales of changing times for better and plight of nearly 45% of less fortunate, or what can be easily
put as ‘Poor’ Egyptians and the story of Egypt begins to take a more real shape. And the trend that is
followed across the globe, poor become poorer and rich become richer, does not fail itself in Egypt.
But any day the poor here are more generous than the rich ones – as it has been said about them
‘Egypt may be chaotic, but it is often joyfully so’. They are more willing to share exchange and help
from their own small pie than the one who owns a Pie Factory. Despite this contrast and adversity,
crime rate in Africa is surprisingly low, may be people understand what it is like to be without money
and commiserate.
But now conditions are said to be improving, atleast again for Cairo, while others are more or less
dragging along. And rich ones seem to be more ‘Cheap’ then the poor one in helping the out the less
fortunate ones. The article ‘The rich are different from you and me – they are more selfish’ throws
light on attitude of Rich ones. With Egypt facing such plight can this be termed as Development?

The rosy picture: Cairo is progressing well; it has been growing to

become the private, industrial hub. It is also in every respect the
center of Egypt. With a population of 18.8 million, almost 25% of all
Egyptians live there. The majority of the nation's commerce is
generated there, or passes through the city. This astonishing growth
until recently surged well ahead of city services.
Analysts termed this magnitude of change as ‘hyper-urbanization’1
The tourists who came here, say, 20 years ago, tend to delight in the sleeker look of the place, the
surprisingly efficient and still friendly service, the far better quality and variety of goods in the
markets, and the fact that some taxis now actually have functioning meters. The talk will be of beach
houses and yachts on the Red Sea, of hot stocks on the Cairo exchange, and of Egypt’s delightfully
low-cost labor. It is possible to live a comfortable rich-world sort of life in Egypt, and many people
do; in some ways it is easier than in well-off countries because maids and cooks and drivers are
cheap (Excerpts from articles).

The contrast and the concern: Little of this prosperity has rubbed on to the neighboring states.
Descend to the Nile valley and be jolted by rutted roads lined with rubbish and packed with crowded
jitney cabs, ferrying the working poor from their cramped and airless dwellings to insecure jobs and
run-down schools (Excerpts from articles). While for many less fortunate households, electricity or
ration for next day is a concern, others are pining over no electricity or water; few are even devoid
from the basic facility of proper sewage system and sanitation. Nearly 45% of Egypt’s Population
(source: Wikipedia) falls in category of extremely poor, poor and nearly poor; people struggling to
make both ends meet with average monthly salary of 200$; the life hasn’t really improved for them.
But no one raises much concern

From Pages of History: Egypt was one of those few countries which fell prey to the trade and
monetary ambitions of the first Capitalist Power of world, Britain. What started off as a trade

1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Egypt
alliance of the spices and trade routes, over the decades turned into Power Seizing battle descending
an era of loss, agony and pain on Egyptians from the hands of British Empire! Egypt had not been
discovered by the British, but France and technically it wasn’t British’ colony. After much tiff about
who will rule Egypt, French and British decided that they needed each other and formed the Entente
Cordiale that they decided to come to agreement over the status of Egypt. They basically agreed that
Britain should be paramount in Egypt, and France should have a free hand in Morocco, Tunisia and
Algeria. Educated Egyptians were less convinced of the merits of European control as they saw all
the most important decisions and jobs remaining in British hands. A growing tide of nationalism was
beginning to find its leaders2. Egypt, rich in natural resources, pool of cheap labor and strategically
beneficial location, with the direct sail routes around the Cape of Good Hope, providing the quickest
way of maintaining communications with India; was used as the backyard to provide resources to
the Charging British Economy.  
The British did very little to improve the way of life for the Egyptian people. They never drilled an
artesian well that could pump pure water to a village or set up medical services for Egyptians. They
didn't even try to educate or improve the conditions of the majority of the population. They
weren't brutal occupiers, but they failed miserably at making the conditions livable to the citizens
of Egypt. The Europeans that were born in Cairo were not directly to blame for the situation, but
they did contribute to it. They lived, ate and slept well and they thought this was all that was
expected of them.
 Because the English were unable to ship all of their supplies in from Britain, they trained and
employed thousands of Egyptians in various trades. Some were mechanics, electricians, drivers,
engineers and even lens grinders. They repaired military equipment and even built trains and
machinery. Egypt started to weave its own cloth out of silk and wool. Advances were made in
mining, cement, petroleum refining and chemical industries. In Egypt, the British spent over ten
million pounds every year 3.Any improvements made were not for the Egyptians however, but for
the traders and merchants which stayed in Egypt while crossing the Suez Canal. Although the
Egyptians did not benefit from these improved resources, they were still expected to pay for it in
the form of taxes4. All and all it was place to provide resources to British, to continue its spree for
reaching Maturely Charged state.
In 1922, Egypt was given ‘Technical Independence’ but Britain still had the real power. Britain still
reserved four matters to their own discretion: the security of imperial communications, defense, the
protection of foreign interests and of minorities, and the Sudan. It was not until 1955 when Egypt
was able to take administration reins of the economy in its own hands.
But problems were not over, with Israel being formed. The Gaza Strip was the vulnerable target of
attacks of Israelis, as a result the economy which should invest in it charging – firms, improving living
standards etc were forced to invest more and more on war-fare goods. Therefore, security system
improved while citizens starved for bread. The fault was Britain’s to create Israel which was later
pumped and boosted by America under their operation DISOG, to continue misunderstandings and
suppress rise of any other capitalist economy and hence stay supreme – avert World War III
In 1971, with change in leadership the privatization was brought in, with vast economic reforms that
ended the socialistic controls of Nasserism. Sadat introduced greater political freedom and a new
economic policy, the most important aspect of which was the infitah or "open door". This relaxed
2
http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/egypt.htm
3
http://www.touregypt.net/hbritish.htm
4
http://www.essaychief.com/free_essays.php?essay=1913886&title=Colonization-Of-Egypt
government controls over the economy and encouraged private investment. While the reforms
created a wealthy and successful upper class and a small middle class, these reforms had little effect
upon the average Egyptian who began to grow dissatisfied with Sadat's rule 5 . Later Egypt was
wracked by violence arising from discontent with Sadat's rule and sectarian tensions and finally he
was assassinated in 1981. After a decade of political turmoil, 1991 brought era of changing reforms
and privatization. Ambitious domestic economic programs were incepted to reduce the size of the
public sector and expand the role of the private sector. There has been less progress in political
reform. The progress has been on since then. But things are changing again.

Progress or Crisis: Egypt’s progress relies mainly on foreign investment, service industry and
tourism. The in-house capabilities were never built to support the economy internally, and it will
now forever stay in the pre-charged state. The efficiency and ωe was achieved by harnessing on low
cost labour instead of building their purchasing power to keep resilient constraint from choking ωe
in long run. Overall Egypt is highly dependent on tourism for foreign exchange and it is its main
engine of growth. Although article ‘The long wait -After three decades of economic progress but
political paralysis, change is in the air, says Max Rodenbeck’ claims winds of change and good times
ahead, conditions have not been good after September 11 chapter in US. There has been an
estimated loss in tourism sector range from $2-3 billion. Airline and shipping: besides the decline of
passengers, primarily tourists, the industry was hit by 50% increase in insurance premiums.
Revenues from Suez Canal have also declined especially after the escalation of piracy in the Red Sea
that made many shipping companies take safer routes. Remittances from Egyptians working abroad
have declined from $3.8 billion in 2000 to $3 billion, and further declines are projected.  The foreign
exchange reserves have declined from $30 billion to $15 billion and the biggest challenge facing
policy makers in is creating jobs and kills the high rate of youth unemployment, estimated at 25.6
percent in 2003, which is the highest in the world 6. These really don’t show signs of a good progress

The Cross-roads: Can a correct assessment of Egypt’s economical state be done. While certain
economist conceive it as beginning of new era of economical growth of the country. Others clearly
see its falling in the pit of economic crisis. British left behind a huge lot of untrained population with
political issue and no strong leadership. With political turmoil and enemy at fence, whole
concentration was on defense rather than growth. Growth which was later given consideration
confined to handful of worthy and already fortunate lot with poor ones swarming around.
Purchasing power being low, and high dependency on foreign investments, ωe is far from being
stable and sometimes is generated by self-cannibalization of further suppress of poor, costing them
their salary. With progress of Cairo being considered as progress of Egypt, the crash of its economy
with any slump US’s economy it will be unavoidable.

The plight is that in midst of acquiring power, GDP, status and wealth leaders forget that its human
beings with right to live dignity is what they are dealing with, who have learn to smile in adversity.
But they just don’t understand that ‘They LAUGH with the People, but leave the CRYING for Home!’

5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_modern_Egypt
6
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aladdin-elaasar/is-egypts-economy-in-cris_b_507782.html