Development and Features of the Egyptian
Economy
1 From socialism to capitalism – fifty years of changing economic
policies
After the revolution of 1952, which brought about the end of the mon-
archy in the country and forced the ruling family that had its roots outside
Egypt into exile, there followed three phases of extremely diverse economic
policies which are closely associated with three different state presidents. As
much as their personalities, the changing international political and economic
environment played a decisive role in the economic policies they tried to
adopt in Egypt.
1.1 The state-controlled economy under Nasser (1952–70)
Several changes occurred during the time of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s pres-
idency and have to be attributed partly to him:
• the introduction of socialism as a national policy, following the pattern of
the communist states existing at the time
• the strengthening of the public sector as the main plank of a planned
economy
• the socialist land reform
• the construction of the Aswan High Dam
• the two Egyptian–Israeli wars of 1956 and 1967.