Urban & Economy

Unemployment may be falling, but labor market tells a deeper story

Egypt’s jobless rate dipped to 6.1% in Q2 2025, but shrinking cohorts and a mass exit from the labor force, especially among women, mask weak job quality and a coming youth surge.

Mohamed Gad_ 16-11-2025

Unemployment may be falling, but labor market tells a deeper story

The High Cost of Low Prices| Egypt’s agricultural exports

Egypt’s booming farm exports mask hidden costs—massive water loss, underpaid labor, and cheap prices shaped by global competition and currency devaluation.

Osama Diab_ 6-11-2025

The High Cost of Low Prices| Egypt’s agricultural exports

Latest stories

Will GEM deliver the promised tourism boom?

Urban & Economy_

The Grand Egyptian Museum marks a milestone for Egypt’s tourism, but without broader development, it risks becoming another fragile pillar of an uneven economy.

Amr Adly_ 10-11-2025

Will GEM deliver the promised tourism boom?

The High Cost of Low Prices| What do we exchange when we trade?

Urban & Economy_

Unequal trade burdens poorer countries with heavy environmental and labor costs while yielding little value, but collective strategies could shift global pricing power.

Osama Diab_ 6-11-2025

The High Cost of Low Prices| What do we exchange when we trade?

When fuel hikes make the school bus a luxury

Urban & Economy_

Fuel price hikes are driving up school bus fees across Egypt, forcing parents to seek cheaper, and often riskier, alternatives as transport costs begin to rival tuition.

Safia Mounir_ 30-10-2025

When fuel hikes make the school bus a luxury

The gain and pain of raising interest rates

Urban & Economy_

Egypt’s high-rate policy curbed inflation but strangled industry; IMF program ends in 2026, raising debate over future priorities.

Mohamed Gad_ 28-9-2025

The gain and pain of raising interest rates

Life after the IMF: An opportunity to think outside the Fund

Urban & Economy_

After a decade of IMF loans, Egypt faces life beyond the Fund. Will Gulf deals and industrial policy replace debt, or repeat unsustainable fixes?

Amr Adly_ 25-9-2025

Life after the IMF: An opportunity to think outside the Fund

Trump, BRICS, and China’s long game

Urban & Economy_

Trump’s tariffs and interventions have strained ties with BRICS states, leaving China space to lead the bloc and potentially reduce reliance on the US dollar.

Amr Adly_ 3-9-2025

Trump, BRICS, and China’s long game

Why accept the Israeli gas deal’s take-or-pay terms?

Urban & Economy_

Israel’s amended gas pact locks Egypt into take-or-pay imports until 2040, raising costs and dependence as local output lags and demand keeps rising.

Mahmoud Salem_ 21-8-2025

Why accept the Israeli gas deal’s take-or-pay terms?

How much have Kamel Al‑Wazir’s loans cost us?

Urban & Economy_

Some of Egypt’s major transport projects took on commercial-rate loans, raising questions about costs, priorities, and long-term debt risks.

Mohamed Ismail_ 19-8-2025

How much have Kamel Al‑Wazir’s loans cost us?

Who can afford a beach house on the ‘wicked coast’?

Urban & Economy_

Skyrocketing property prices on Egypt’s “wicked coast” raise fears of a looming bubble, as Gulf buyers, expats, and elites drive demand beyond most locals’ reach.

Safia Mounir_ 12-8-2025

Who can afford a beach house on the ‘wicked coast’?

The Cairo of gated communities

Urban & Economy_

Behind guarded walls, a new 'Egypt' rises—globalized, affluent, and detached—while the other 'Masr', bears the weight of exclusion, memory, and revolt.

Alaa Khaled_ 7-8-2025

The Cairo of gated communities

Dollar drain: Egypt’s government crowds out the private sector

Urban & Economy_

Egypt’s public sector doubled its dollar borrowing from local banks, squeezing private firms and prompting fresh warnings from the IMF over rising fiscal risks.

Doaa Elsayed_ 4-8-2025

Dollar drain: Egypt’s government crowds out the private sector

Gauging poverty and its impacts

Urban & Economy_

Poverty in Egypt has surged to 35.7%, with rising prices, low wages, and school dropouts deepening inequality. This report examines causes, impacts, and needed reforms.

Elhamy Elmerghany_ 3-8-2025

Gauging poverty and its impacts

2.3 million in debt: Chasing relief in Egypt’s consumer credit boom

Urban & Economy_

With inflation high and incomes strained, millions of Egyptians are turning to consumer credit to meet basic needs—fueling a lending boom that’s as risky as it is necessary.

Safia Mounir_ 20-7-2025

2.3 million in debt: Chasing relief in Egypt’s consumer credit boom

Water, watts, and wealth: The quiet sell-off of essential services

Urban & Economy_

Egypt’s new laws open water and power sectors to private firms, raising debate over pricing, access, and whether essential services should be commodified.

Ahmed Albordeny_ 15-7-2025

Water, watts, and wealth: The quiet sell-off of essential services

The IMF’s half truths

Urban & Economy_

The IMF blames Egypt’s weak private investment on state crowding out—but ignores its own role in fueling instability through interest hikes and austerity.

Amr Adly_ 13-7-2025

The IMF’s half truths

Fast track to privatization: Who’s running Egypt’s trains?

Urban & Economy_

Egypt turns to private operators for its new rail lines, seeking to boost performance and revenue after state-run failures. But what does this mean for commuters?

Mohamed Ismail_ 28-6-2025

Fast track to privatization: Who’s running Egypt’s trains?

Corruption as leverage: How institutional weakness fuels neoliberalism

Urban & Economy_

Institutional weakness isn't a flaw in the neoliberal system—it's a feature. This analysis reveals how lax regulations and the informal economy create a "comparative advantage."

Osama Diab_ 19-6-2025

Corruption as leverage: How institutional weakness fuels neoliberalism

Sayyida Aisha Bridge: a failure easier to blame on the jinn

Urban & Economy_

Dubbed the “Bridge of Death,” Sayyida Aisha Bridge saw decades of crashes, myths, and official denial—until its long-overdue demolition was finally announced.

Mohamed El Kholy_ 8-6-2025

Sayyida Aisha Bridge: a failure easier to blame on the jinn

Sayyida Aisha Bridge: The curse of asphalt in the sky

Urban & Economy_

The cult of the overpass continues to grow, despite the imminent demolition of Sayyida Aisha bridge. Will potential benefits exclude locals in another touristic walkway?

Ezzat Elkamhawi_ 27-5-2025

Sayyida Aisha Bridge: The curse of asphalt in the sky

The hidden toll of Ras El-Hekma

Urban & Economy_

The Ras El-Hekma deal rewarded investors and the state while local Bedouin tribes stand to lose their lands, their social fabric and their traditional ways of living.

Loay Hesham_ 18-5-2025

The hidden toll of Ras El-Hekma

Food company revenues soar as bellies rumble

Urban & Economy_

Egypt's food companies maintain profits against a backdrop of high inflation and finance costs while consumers tighten their belts.

Asmaa Abdel-Alim_ 17-5-2025

Food company revenues soar as bellies rumble

Nasser Social Bank: Boosting profits or helping the poor?

Urban & Economy_

Commercial loans like car financing boost Nasser Social Bank’s profits, but they also compete with its core mission: offering affordable credit to low-income Egyptians.

Eslam Aly_ 13-5-2025

Nasser Social Bank: Boosting profits or helping the poor?