Author's note: I would like to thank the Social Science Research Council, Fulbright and Fulbright-Hays, and the American Research Center in Egypt for grants during 1987 and 1988 in support of the field research on which this article is based. None of these organizations is responsible for the contents of the article.

This article was written before Egypt signed the reform economic agreement with the IMF in 1991. The section marked addendum at the end of the substantive text will briefly cover the basic changes since 1988.

¹ Subsidies in Egypt are higher than in any other Middle Eastern country including Syria and Tunisia.

² For background information, see John, Waterbury, The Egypt of Nasser and Sadat (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1983);Google ScholarNazih, Ayubi, Bureaucracy in Contemporary Egypt (New York, 1980);Google ScholarRobert, Springborg, Mubarak's Egypt: Fragmentation of the Political Order (Boulder, Colo., 1989).Google Scholar Also Denis, J. Sullivan, “The Political Economy of Reform in Egypt,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 22, 3 (08 1990);Google ScholarRobert, Springborg, “Agrarian Bourgeoisie, Semiproletariats and the Egyptian State: Lessons for Liberalization,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 22, 4 (11 1990).Google Scholar

³ See ʿAbd, al Munʿim al-Qaysūnī, “Qaḍiyyat al-Daʿm fī Miṣr,” al-Ahrām, 6 09 1977.Google Scholar

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ World Bank, Agricultural Price Management in Egypt, Staff Working Paper no. 388 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1980), iv.Google Scholar

⁶ Ibid., 16.

⁷ Ibid..

⁸ Al-Ahrām, 25 08 1988.Google Scholar

⁹ Government of Egypt, Ministry of Finance, al-Bayān al-Iḥṣāʾī ʿan Mashrūʿ al-Muwāzana al-ʿāmma li-al-Dawla, 1988/89 (Cairo, 1989), 24; in the previous year it was E £11,019.9 million.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Central Bank of Egypt, Annual Report, 1986/87 (in Arabic) (Cairo: Central Bank of Egypt, 1987).Google Scholar

¹¹ See Bank Miṣr, al-Nashra al-Iqtiṣadiyya, year 29, no. 2 (Cairo: Bank Misr, 1985), 31–32.Google Scholar

¹² See announcement in al-Ahrām, 9 10 1988.Google Scholar

¹³ Statement made by Dr. ʿAbd al-Razzaq Rizq Allah, Egyptian expert at the United Nations, see al-Ahrām, 20 08 1988. This assumes that inflation has been at 35 percent annually. Officially it is estimated at 18 percent. but observers put it at between 25 and 35 percent.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Figure based on data given in Central Bank of Egypt, Annual Report, 1986/1987, 14.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Ibid., 2.

¹⁶ Central Bank of Egypt, al-Majalla al-lqtiṣādiyya, 26, 2 (Cairo: Central Bank of Egypt, 1986), 150.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Minister of supplies in statement to the People's Assembly; see al-Ahrām, 4 03 1988. The figure for wheat and flour is a little higher than other official figures.Google Scholar

¹⁸ USAID, Report (Washington, D.C.: USAID, 1987), 6.Google Scholar

¹⁹ The data on which this comparison of the 1970s situation is based are drawn from the following sources: an unpublished study undertaken by USAID which describes the situation in 1979, Egypt's Food and Energy Subsidies in 1979 (Washington, D.C.: USAID, 1979) (henceforth USAID, 1979);Google Scholar the Egyptian Ministry of Supplies, Subsidy List Per Item (in Arabic) (Cairo: Egyptian Ministry of Supplies, 1986);Google ScholarUSAID, The Energy Problem (Washington, D. C.: USAID, 1986)Google Scholar (henceforth, USAID, EP, 1986).Google Scholar

²⁰ Presidential address on the 34th anniversary of the July revolution; see text in al-Ahrām al-lqtiṣādī, 28 07 1986.Google Scholar The figure given for 1980–81 by Government of Egypt, CAPMAS, Statistical Yearbook, 1952–1987 (in Arabic) (Cairo, 1987) is E £17,149 billion. The exact figure for 1985–86 is E £26,572 billion:Google ScholarCentral Bank of Egypt, al-Majalla al-Iqtiṣādiyya 26, 2 (1986), 170.Google Scholar

²¹ USAID 1979, 4.Google Scholar

²² Al-Ahrām al-Iqtiṣādī, 19 05 1986, 33.Google Scholar

²³ USAID, 1979, 41.Google Scholar

²⁴ USAID, EP, 1986.Google Scholar

²⁵ Ibid., 20.

²⁶ Ibid., 9.

²⁷ Figure cited by minister of electricity in al-Muṣawwar interview; see al-Muṣawwar, 9 08 1988.Google Scholar

²⁸ USAID, EP, 1986, 11.Google Scholar

²⁹ Information given out by the head of the board of directors of Egyptgas, ʿAbd al-Hamid Abu Bakr; see the press, especially al-Wafd, 6 06 1985.Google Scholar

³⁰ See statement given by the head of the Communications Organization, al-Ahrām, 3 03 1988.Google Scholar

³¹ A1-Ahrām al-Iqtiṣādī, 19 05 1986, 33.Google Scholar

³² A1-Ahrām, 2 08 1987. This figure is confirmed by the food items subsidy issued by the Ministry of Supplies. Calculated on the free-market exchange rate.Google Scholar

³³ Exception should be made for 1988 when the bill went up sharply due to the drought caused by the high price of wheat in the United States.

³⁴ A1-Ahrām, 19 08 1988.Google Scholar

³⁵ Minister of supplies, al-Ahrām, 2 08 1987.Google Scholar

³⁶ E £110 million is the sum mistakenly given by the minister.

³⁷ On another occasion, the same official stated in July 1987 that the total value of the subsidy for basic foods and other essentials was E £1.84 billion. Of this E £l.140 billion is for the coupon subsidy and E £700 million for bread; statement by Galāl Abū al-Dhahab, minister of supplies, see al-Ahrām, 30 07 1987. The variations in figures, though small here, are perhaps due to the difficulty of taking everything into account. For instance, in the case of soap, the quota listed above is two cakes, but in fact other forms of soap such as powdered soap are distributed by coupons too. The figures do not include the subsidy cost for other food products and clothing managed by the Ministry of Supplies.Google Scholar

³⁸ This comes to about E £4 billion, confirming the earlier figures from the same source.

³⁹ Government of Egypt, Ministry of Supplies, Subsidies List by Item, 1986.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ It reached $179 million in 1988 according to President Mubarak; see speech in al-Ahrām, 19 08 1988.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Minister of supply interview with al-Ahrām, 12 03 1988.Google Scholar

⁴² IBRD, Development Research Department, discussion papers, no. 289 (Washington, D.C., 1987).Google Scholar

⁴³ Ibid.