Egypt

Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country in North Africa, on the Mediterranean Sea, and is bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Egypt has an area of 1,010,408 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), making it the world's 30th-largest country by total land area, and the largest country in Africa by land area. With over 95 million inhabitants (as of July 2018), Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa, the Middle East, and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa (after Nigeria and Ethiopia), and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypt's territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta. Egypt's economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, and is projected to become one of the largest in the world in the 21st century. In 2016, Egypt became Africa's second largest economy (after Nigeria), and is projected to be the continent's third largest (after Nigeria and South Africa) in 2019. The country is a founding member of the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab League, the African Union, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is one of two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, the Camp David Accords. Egypt has a Mediterranean coastline of about 2,450 kilometers (1,500 mi). The economy of Egypt was a highly centralized planned economy focused on import substitution under President Gamal Abdel Nasser. In the 1990s, a series of International Monetary Fund arrangements, coupled with heavy investment in the private sector, helped Egypt recover from the effects of free market policies implemented by Anwar Sadat in the 1970s and 1980s and return to a GDP growth rate of 5–6% per annum. Egypt's economy depends mainly on agriculture, media, petroleum imports, and tourism; there are also more than three million Egyptians working abroad, mainly in Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf and Europe. The Egyptian pound is the currency of Egypt. The Egyptian pound is also referred to as the Genuine, which was the name of the currency in the pre-1952 period. The Egyptian pound is subdivided into 100 piasters or milliemes. The Egyptian economy is a developing one and it is the largest in the Arab world and the second largest in Africa after Nigeria. The country's economic base is quite diversified. The mainstay of the economy is agriculture, which employs about a third of the workforce and provides a little over a quarter of GDP. Industry and services contribute the rest of GDP. The industrial sector has grown rapidly in recent years, with manufacturing now accounting for about 15% of GDP. The main manufacturing industries are food processing, textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, metals, and engineering. The service sector has also grown rapidly and now accounts for about 55% of GDP. The main service industries are tourism, transport, communications, and finance. The Egyptian economy is highly centralized and dominated by the public sector, which has been slowly privatized in recent years. The government continues to control most basic industries, such as iron and steel, petrochemicals, and textiles. It also owns shares in many private companies. The Egyptian pound is the currency of Egypt and is subdivided into 100 piasters or milliemes. The Egyptian pound is also referred to as the Genuine, which was the name of the currency in the pre-1952 period. The economy of Egypt is a developing one and it is the largest in the Arab world and the second largest in Africa after Nigeria. The country's economic base is quite diversified. The mainstay of the economy is agriculture, which employs about a third of the workforce and provides a little over a quarter of GDP. Industry and services contribute the rest of GDP. The industrial sector has grown rapidly in recent years, with manufacturing now accounting for about 15% of GDP. The main manufacturing industries are food processing, textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, metals, and engineering. The service sector has also grown rapidly and now accounts for about 55% of GDP. The main service industries are tourism, transport, communications, and finance. The Egyptian economy is highly centralized and dominated by the public sector, which has been slowly privatized in recent years. The government continues to control most basic industries, such as iron and steel, petrochemicals, and textiles. It also owns shares in many private companies. The Egyptian pound is the currency of Egypt and is subdivided into 100 piasters or milliemes. The Egyptian pound is also referred to as the Genuine, which was the name of the currency in the pre-1952 period. The economy of Egypt is a developing one and it is the largest in the Arab world and the second largest in Africa after Nigeria. The country's economic base is quite diversified. The mainstay of the economy is agriculture, which employs about a third of the workforce and provides a little over a quarter of GDP. Industry and services contribute the rest of GDP. The industrial sector has grown rapidly in recent years, with manufacturing now accounting for about 15% of GDP. The main manufacturing industries are food processing, textiles, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, metals, and engineering. The service sector has also grown rapidly and now accounts for about 55% of GDP. The main service industries are tourism, transport, communications, and finance. The Egyptian economy is highly centralized and dominated by the public sector, which has been slowly privatized in recent years. The government continues to control most basic industries, such as iron and steel, petrochemicals, and textiles. It also owns shares in many private companies.