Business Secrets of the Pharaohs: Egypt’s economy, the military, and the IMF loan (s6, ep4)

Following on from last week’s look at the economy in Afghanistan, we’re staying on the money train, but this time going through Egypt.

The economy in Egypt was going through some troubles before the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While successive Egyptian leaders have been responsible for their fair share of fiscal mismanagement, these two events certainly escalated events.

In January, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stepped in with a loan for Egypt, the fourth such loan since 2016. But with the $3 billion dollar loan comes a list of reforms that the IMF wants Egypt to enact. Chief among the reforms is the call for the Egyptian military to give its business interests.

For decades, the Egyptian military has been slowly acquiring more and more businesses across Egypt from all sectors. Whether you want to build a new apartment block, get your car serviced, have a cold drink, or smoke a cigarette -- if you’re in Egypt, there’s a good chance that you’re buying it from a military-owned business. The IMF wants to see an end to this.

With its loan, it wants to see a greater level of private investment in companies across Egypt in the hopes that this will foster some badly-needed growth in the country. The growth is needed, with one-third of Egypt's population now living in poverty, and another third hovering just above the poverty line.

In this episode of The New Arab Voice, we examine Egypt's economic problems and ask who and what is responsible. We delve into the Egyptian military’s businesses and ask how they came to hold such economic power, and how they wield it. We also explore the chances of whether the IMF’s demands for reform will be adhered to.

Joining us in this episode is Umberto Profazio, a Maghreb analyst at the NATO Defence College Foundation, and Associate Fellow for the Conflict, Security, and Development Program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

We're also honoured to speak with Marina Ottoway, a Middle East Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a long-time analyst of political transformations in Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East. Previously, Marina worked at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, during which she played a central role in launching the Middle East Program.

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