Egypt ENERGY, MINING, AND MANUFACTURING
Glass blowers
Courtesy Embassy of Egypt, Washington
Worker with textile machine
Courtesy Embassy of Egypt, Washington
The industrial sector, which included energy, mining, and
manufacturing, constituted the backbone of the Egyptian economy in
the early 1990s. Whereas its share of GDP did not exceed 15 percent
in 1952, it stood at more than 33 percent of GDP throughout the
1980s. The sector, however, did not perform as well in other
respects, especially in creation of employment. In 1986 it absorbed
less than 2 million persons out of a total workforce of more than
12 million. The sector faced many problems that hampered its
growth. Reform was required in many policy areas within and outside
industry if the sector were to lift Egypt from dependence on raw
material exports and other exogenous resources that supplied the
major portion of foreign currency
(see Balance of Payments and Main Sources of Foreign Exchange
, this ch.).
Data as of December 1990
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