Remittances are the last of Egypt’s four main revenue earn-
ers. This involves money earned by Egyptians working abroad
and then carried or sent home to where it is spent. Strangely,
this income source is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it
is the result of a “brain drain.” Some of the best and bright-
est Egyptian engineers and doctors, for example, are working
abroad and therefore not helping their country to develop at
home. On the other hand, Egypt simply does not have enough
available jobs, or sufficiently attractive salaries for these profes-
sionals to keep them home.