Egypt: history, culture, and contemporary society

Egypt's Economy Today And While Mubarak's Was In Charge And Who Has Taken His Place

Egypt is located at a prime strategic location, which makes it trade hub. Hence Egypt stands as North African economic super power and a cultural hub in the Arab world. This transcontinental country that shares its coastlines with the Red sea and the Mediterranean Sea, also its borders with the Sudan, Gaza and Israel stands as the 30th largest country on the world map.

Most of Egypt's trade and economic activities take place at the river Nile, along its basin. After obtaining independence from the British, Egypt had to struggle to rid itself of the feudal economic system left behind by the British, and started working towards creating an independent economy which had a stand of its own. However by the end of the twentieth century, Egypt had not achieved its goals completely and still remained heavily reliant on foreign aids and imported goods. Hence its economic conditions were heavily dependent on how the international market was going rather than having an economic market independent of international fluctuations. Till the late 1990s, the Egyptian economy was more or less a centralized system due to the economic policies of its former presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadaat.

However, during former president Mubarak's regime, the country saw major economic reforms targeted towards attracting foreign direct investments, by controlling virtually all heavy industries, giving agriculture in private hands, which by now has been deregulated; with the exceptions of cotton and sugar cane. This along side with other efforts at privatization increased Egypt's economic growth. However the two most important terrorist attacks of our recent times, the 1997 attack at Luxor and the 11 September 2001 attack on the United States had a very negative impact on not just Egypt but the entire Muslim world. At the end of 2000 -- 01, the total public debt had amounted to 64% of the total GDP and the foreign public debt had risen to 26% of the total GDP. Another mistake was the increased spending on infrastructure projects in the early 2000s which increased the budget deficits again. By 2003 after a series of devaluation of the national currency, Egypt adopted a 'floating exchange rate mechanism' and this way the Egyptian pound was no longer pegged to the dollar. Come 2008 till 2011 the economic reforms took a back seat. The economy almost closed down, because it got divided into a lot of dominant groups.

The military being the most prominent and dominating force. The army-owned companies hold various monopolies, in very diverse sectors like water, construction, cement, olive oil, hotels and of course the very important oil industry. The remaining industries and corporations are still controlled by the cronies of the former government, with all the corruption that goes with it. This led to a lot of opportunities that were slacked off from the common people, particularly for the youth and very often highly educated. With the rise of such unemployment and a stagnant economy and government, all you get is a combustible situation.

Egypt's current currency is no different from the rest; it consists of bank notes and coins, sometimes one amount available in both notes and coins, such as one pound. One pound is made up of 100 piaster's. The notes are distinguished according to their color for their value. It is very simple note, where one side is in English and the other is in Arabic. The central bank is in charge of issuing currency. The Egyptian pound is one of the most valuable currencies in Africa, Both because of its trade significance and also because it holds a national significance in the Arab world. Considering that Egypt was once a British colony, so now having its own currency and being the economic super power of a larger part of the Arab world holds a lot of meaning for the Egyptians.

Egypt introduced its bank notes at the turn of the 20th century. Notes are provided in piasters and pounds. The notes available are for 5, 10, 25, and 50 piaster's and for pounds, its 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 pounds. Every note is assigned with a particular tint to tell the difference, like reds and blues. The reason the Egyptian note holds such valuable significance is because it represents the Egyptian cultural the best. With ancient monuments and symbols and leader printed on the bank notes, for examples the 50 on the 50 pound note there the famous Abu Hurayba Mosque and on the front it's the Horus Temple at Edfu.