Country Report for Egypt

O U T S O U R C I N G T O A F R I C A
Country Report for Egypt
Business Environment (BE)
Score Rank
3.558 2
Egypt ranked second in this lower level abstraction. In achieving this position it has come
fi fth in ICT security, Cyber and IPR laws, and share of services in GDP. Egypt has the third
highest foreign exchange reserves and ranks seventh in ease and cost of fi nances. Egypt has
come in the sixth position for legislative risk and in the eighth for share of ICT in exports.
In the tax rate, Egypt is twelfth and in the share of services in exports it has come fi fth.
Also, Egypt is fi fth and fi rst, respectively, in geopolitical risk and currency risk.
3. Country, Political, and Economic Profi le
Geography
At 1,001,450 sq km (386,660 sq m), Egypt is the world’s thirty-eighth-largest country. In terms
of land area, it is approximately the same size as all of Central America, twice the size of
France, four times the size of the United Kingdom, and equals the combined size of the U.S.
states of Texas and California. Nevertheless, due to the aridity of Egypt’s climate, population
centres are concentrated along the narrow Nile Valley and Delta, meaning that approximately
99 per cent of the population uses only about 5.5 per cent of the total land area.
Alexandria is Egypt’s second largest city. Egypt is bordered by Libya to the west, Sudan to
the south, and by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east. Egypt’s important role in geopolitics
stems from its strategic position. Its coast line is along the Mediterranean Sea and the Red
Sea; a transcontinental nation, it possesses a land bridge (the Isthmus of Suez) between
Africa and Asia, which in turn is traversed by a navigable waterway (the Suez Canal) that
connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea.
To summarise the data:
Area: 1,001,450 sq km (386,000 sq mi); approximately equal to Texas and New Mexico
combined.
Cities: Capital—Cairo (pop. estimated at 16 million).
Other cities: Alexandria (6 million), Aswan, Asyut, Port Said, Suez, Ismailia.
Terrain: Desert, except Nile valley and delta.
Climate: Dry, hot summers; moderate winters.
People
Nationality: Egyptian(s).
Population (July 2007 est.): 80,335,036.
Annual growth rate (2007 est.): 1.72 per cent.
03_Africa_Report09_Egypt.indd 52 2/25/09 4:18:18 PM
52