ESCWA Publication: E/ESCWA/EDID/2019/WP.1
Country: Arab Republic of Egypt
Publication Type: Working papers
Cluster: Shared Economic Prosperity
Focus Area: Financing for development, Trade & regional connectivity
Initiatives: Blockchain for international trade
SDGs: Agenda 2030
Keywords: International trade, Intraregional trade, Trade policy, Trade structure
Trade Performance and Structure Profiles: Egypt
January 2019
This profile takes stock of the trade performance and structure of Egypt since 1995. In addition to aggregate trends in trade and foreign direct investment, a broad range of trade indicators are calculated specially for this profile using highly detailed product level data, making it a novel set of trade indicators for Egypt and the Arab region.
The analysis reveals that Egypt’s performance in merchandise and services trade and attracting foreign direct investment in the past two decades have been mixed. In all three domains, the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 is marked, with a surge in trade and investment, which proved to be unsustainable, in the run up to the crisis and weak performance in the aftermath.
Trade and investment appears to be gathering pace as of late. Traditional destinations for Egypt’s exports have mainly been EU countries but PAFTA countries are rather important destinations, much more so than their share in world trade suggests. Turkey, EU and NAFTA countries hold relatively favorable prospects for Egyptian exports, which are increasingly diversified and sophisticated products
Related content
Financing for development
, Trade & regional connectivity
,
This profile takes stock of the trade performance and structure of Egypt since 1995. In addition to aggregate trends in trade and foreign direct investment, a broad range of trade indicators are calculated specially for this profile using highly detailed product level data, making it a novel set of trade indicators for Egypt and the Arab region.
The analysis reveals that Egypt’s performance in merchandise and services trade and attracting foreign direct investment in the past two decades have been mixed. In all three domains, the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 is marked, with a surge in trade and investment, which proved to be unsustainable, in the run up to the crisis and weak performance in the aftermath.
Trade and investment appears to be gathering pace as of late. Traditional destinations for Egypt’s exports have mainly been EU countries but PAFTA countries are rather important destinations, much more so than their share in world trade suggests. Turkey, EU and NAFTA countries hold relatively favorable prospects for Egyptian exports, which are increasingly diversified and sophisticated products
