Egypt’s Military Economy: The Army Run Businesses

The Egyptian military controls a significant portion of the country’s economy. It competes with the private sectors through numerous businesses it operates. The Egyptian military owns hundreds to entities and agencies such as gas stations, fast food chains, and fish farms. The military has constructed some of the largest facilities for raising fish and shrimp in the middle east, while at the same time cutting subsidies for private farms and hatcheries. The military operates construction companies and owns cement plants. Private cement factories have gone bankrupt after the military’s cement plants caused an oversupply and caused cement prices to crater. The military operates 1,500 small market stalls that you would find outside train stations.
The economy of Egypt was hit hard by lack of tourism after the pandemic. The war in Ukraine resulted in grain import prices to spike. Egypt imports a significant amount of wheat and other grains.
Investors are pessimistic about Egypt resulting in the Egyptian pound plunging against the US Dollar. Egypt is having trouble paying for imports.
Egypt is the most populous Arab country. Perhaps this is why Arab countries keep dumping money into Egypt to keep it operating a little longer. How long will the UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to subsidize and prop up Egypt’s failing economy and government.
Works Cited:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/egypts-military-is-under-pressure-to-loosen-its-grip-on-economy-b77d935d