Under IMF (International Monetary Fund) pressure, the Structural Adjust-
ment Programmes were implemented from 1991. The government committed
itself to applying strict measures for the liberalization of the economy, and
privatization of many state-directed companies was carried out. In 1994 the
GATT Agreement was signed. State control over the price of certain agrarian
products that had formerly been declared of strategic importance, like wheat,
rice and cotton, was lifted, and the high customs tariffs on imported goods
reduced. All this went hand in hand with a strong devaluation of the Egyptian
pound. State subsidies were by and large stopped, with the exception of those
for bread, edible oil and sugar as well as mineral oil and gas.
Privatization of public sector enterprises proved difficult at the beginning,